


Partners

by CoincidenceConnection



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: 7.03, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Burstead, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Workplace Relationship, burgstead, season 7 episode 3, they are partners and therefore need to spend more time together okay?, what's the ship name?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23738263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoincidenceConnection/pseuds/CoincidenceConnection
Summary: 7.03 Kim and Jay are now partners.Kim assumed that being partners would not change anything about their relationship.She was right.Wasn’t she?
Relationships: Kim Burgess/Jay Halstead
Comments: 92
Kudos: 159





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AU during and after Season 7 Episode 3.

What a morning.

Kim’s hand may as well have been filled with lead as she reached up to rub away Antonio’s radio call code off the board.

If anyone saw the tears gathering in her eyes, she prepared to pretend it was the chalk dust irritating her eyes. She had just lost another partner.

She thought they had been good. A great team. But she hadn’t seen any of his problems, hadn’t been enough to help him. She couldn’t help the niggling feeling prickling at her gut, that she had somehow let him down without knowing.

Adam walking down the hallway toward her broke her reverie, she could barely answer his question as to what she was doing. It wasn’t her story to tell. Voight had taken her aside before he had got called to newbie Rojas’ first horrendous crime scene and gave her the lowdown on her current partner scenario.

She had no one. Antonio was gone. For good.

Kim really didn’t need Adam’s concern. They had had a habit of breaking their own boundaries, of getting too close to what they had been all those years ago, just for the sake of familiarity in times of hardship. She appreciated him as a good friend, as a work colleague, almost as a brother now.

But after everything with Blair, even though it had hurt like hell, it had taught her one thing. It was better to keep moving forward. No more looking back.

The desk connected to her own felt foreign to her now. It belonged to no one.

Voight barged into the bullpen, followed by Kevin and Rojas, and gave the lowdown both on the Antonio situation and on their new case.

Jay tried to object, they were already neck deep in a cartel case, so close to closing it off that Kim could practically see the courtroom.

Voight’s answer, throwing in the new case the Rojas had got involved in, wasn’t the only thing to surprise the unit that morning.

As if there wasn’t enough upheaval in the unit already, he was breaking up Jay and Hailey.

Kim had been starting to try and mentally prepare for teaming up with Rojas. The girl had good instincts from what Kim could tell. But she just felt tired at the thought of it. After losing Al and now Antonio, she really didn’t want to try and train a new recruit straight out of the academy.

She really just wanted stability. She wanted someone she could rely on.

“Jay, you’ll ride with Kim.”

At Voight’s words, Kim looked up so fast that she nearly gave herself whiplash.

Kim held her breath as the atmosphere in the room shifted, she could have cut the tension around Jay and Hailey with a knife.

Hailey moved first, almost abruptly following Voight into his office and stopped just shy of slamming the door behind her.

For once, Kim couldn’t read Jay’s somewhat sombre expression as he watched Hailey go and moved so slowly over to Kim’s desk that he might as well have been trying to wade through water.

Kim had to admit to herself that she felt a flash of relief. Having Jay as a replacement partner felt like a cooling balm on an open wound.

But she couldn’t ignore the tension in his shoulders. She didn’t blame him. Jay and Hailey were a solid team, they had built up a good trust.

And trust must have been a hard thing to create and nurture after Erin had disappeared from Jay’s life, their relationship and their partnership, leaving Halstead to practically drown in despair.

Kim tried to give Jay a reassuring smile as he approached her desk, as the rest of the unit broke from the news and went about their work

“Hey Jay.” She looked at him as he approached.

“Hey Kim.” He nodded, perching at her desk.

Their day, their entire work lives, had just been upheaved, she didn’t know what else to say.

She let out a sigh, taking in the mess of a new case that was in front of them, trying to quickly put away the cartel case files.

She had known Jay for seven years, had worked with him for three. But she had _never worked with him_. As their own little unit within the unit. Sure, undercovers and building breaches had built up a good rapport.

But being in a partnership? Being partners with someone? It was a completely different thing.

“Yeah, something about this case just doesn’t seem clear cut to me.” He went about breaking the silence that had fallen like a wall between them, reaching over and glancing at the new file.

“It’s one hell of a first day for Rojas anyway.” Kim said.

He hummed in agreement, quieter than normal, flipping the page.

Her eyes fell to the badge slung on his belt. She suddenly wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.

Antonio and Al, well, they really should have taken point in her partnerships with them. She was the police officer and they were a rank above her. But both men had come to see her as an equal, letting her take lead where she wanted.

She knew that Jay wasn’t egotistical, it wasn’t like he would start shoving his rank in her face or anything, but Jay had only ever had other detectives for partners in Intelligence.

Kim hated the doubts and uncertainty that slipped into her mind as she tried to remain positive.

She now wasn’t quite sure how their new dynamic was going to play out.

She cleared her throat quietly, “So…you got any ideas to hit with?”

He looked up at her as if he expected her to answer her own question.

When no answer came, he stood up straight, as if wrenching himself out of whatever half dazed state he had been in. “Background checks and pod footage?”

“Sounds like a plan.” She nodded.

He tried to give her a small smile in return before retreating all the way across the bullpen to his desk.

The distance stretched like an ocean between them as Hailey walked back out of Voight’s office. Jay looked at his now ex-partner on instinct and they seemed to have a silent conversation.

Kim missed having that ease with Antonio.

Whatever Hailey had told him, they both seemed happier as she took Rojas to Med to interview the girl from the accident.

After the other women had gotten back to the District, it wasn’t long before Voight gave Kim and Jay their first task as partners. “Go back over to the scene, we’re missing something.”

It had been odd, working at their separate desks. They weren’t sitting together. They had to keep darting to-and-fro across the bullpen floor. It was all an adjustment.

So, Kim grabbed her jacket and walked over to his desk. She knew what it was like after all, from being on patrol, to have to make such jarring switches in partners. She could at least make the first move.

“So, you want to go?” She smiled.

Jay seemed to jerk himself out of whatever circle of thoughts were flying around his head enough to nod and attempt a half smile back. “Sure thing, Kim.”

She didn’t take it personal if Jay was a bit disappointed with the developments, the kind of partnership that Jay and Hailey had was hard to duplicate. Oh boy, did she know what that was like after she had been left in patrol without Kevin.

She bit her tongue, keeping her commentary to herself as they left the building.

His silence, however, was deafening to her. He only broke his silence to ask if he could drive.

Jay was a good friend, a good guy, and she knew that she belonged in the unit. But the doubts crept in anyway. What if he was disappointed with the morning’s developments because he got _her_?

“So, you okay with this?” Jay asked after they had pulled away from the district and gestured between them with his hand.

“Yeah.” She nodded, sounding too peppy to herself. “Yeah, it’s, eh…yep.” She gave a one shoulder shrug.

“Good.” She watched him nod to himself out of the corner of her eye. “So, we’re good?”

“We’ve always been good Jay.” She smiled, “But you know I’m going to have to keep you on a trial run…” She joked.

She got a laugh out of him, it managed to ease the tension sitting between them. “Oh yeah? What are you going to be testing me now?”

“Oh yeah.” She feigned seriousness, “I mean I’m going to need to know if you chew too loudly when eating on stakeouts. Or how messy your handwriting is for the joint reports. Or if you like the wrong music to play on the radio…”

“How many bad partners have you had?” He asked with a grin.

“Too many. Don’t make me add you to that list.” She joked pointing her finger at him.

He cleared his throat, “I know I won’t live up to Antonio but…”

She was shocked that he had doubts of his own. “No, it’s not like that. It’s…every partnership is different right? We just got to adjust and have each other’s backs.”

“Always.” He replied quicker than a gunshot.

“Then we’re good.” She nodded, relaxing back in her seat until they got a call from Kevin.

“Hey you two, Sarge wants you to circle back and scoop up Ruby, looks like she isn’t as innocent as she let us believe. I’ll send you the details now.”

Kim relayed the information that Kevin had sent on, so now Ruby was looking good for moving drugs. She entered the woman’s address in the navigation system and Jay turned around and headed the other way.

“So…” he said, as they drove along in daytime traffic. “What music do you like to listen to?” He asked, reaching for the car radio to turn it up. She appreciated the effort, how quickly he was willing to try and adjust.

It was a big thing. Being partners.

“Death metal.” She deadpanned and managed to keep a straight face.

“…Right.” He said in a slightly higher tone of voice, frowning at the dial and trying to find a channel to suit his new partner.

She couldn’t keep it up, he was too sweet, she broke into fitful laughter. “I’m joking with you man. You got to learn when I’m lying.” She joked.

He smiled back, one that lit up his entire face, “Did I just fail your first test?”

“Yep, ‘afraid so. It means you gotta buy the next round of snacks when we’re on stakeout.” She shook her head as if she was disappointed in him.

“Oh no! c’mon!” He threw a particularly impressive pretend strop.

She had always liked this side of Halstead, where he could let his funny side out and relax. From going on seven years of knowing him, she knew he was many things. A good man, a good cop, dependable, heartfelt, but sometimes like he carried the weight of the world square on his own shoulders.

Kim liked to think that she could start to help him carrying some of that weight. And he could teach her how to be a better cop, if not a better person too.

She was beginning to think this being partners thing could work.

“This one.” She said, keeping an eye on road signs and signalling for him to turn.

“I will say that I like driving.” He said, and she could see him glancing at her nervously. What the big deal was, she didn’t know.

“Doesn’t bother me.” She shrugged and she caught him trying to hide a smile. Apparently, that was the right answer.

“And I will warn you that I am competitive.” He said, turning the wheel and driving down the residential street.

“Oh yeah?” She asked as they pulled up at the Ruby’s place. “Me too.” She grinned.

Getting out of the truck, she called back to him, “Ten to one she’s not home.” She led the way to the house. She smiled when she heard him scoff behind her.

“No bet.”

Her retort died on the tip of her tongue when the screaming started. Someone screaming for help.

She glanced back at Jay for half a second, before jumping into action together. She was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they could sync up.

She shouted at the witness and Jay followed suit. Kim felt ease that she hadn’t felt in a while. Jay had her back. She checked on Ruby and deflated when there was no pulse as Jay cleared the area then called and cancelled an ambulance.

The next hour went by quickly, like trying to solve a puzzle. When Jay and Hailey found out where the deceased girl worked, Kim and Kevin went to pay it a visit. The girl wasn’t on the books.

* * *

“So new partner? How’s it going with Jay?” Kevin asked as they were on the way back to the District.

“No one’s ever as good as you Kev.” She smiled over to the passenger seat.

“Good I’m just checking.” He grinned. “Nah seriously, Jay’s solid. You guys should be good.”

“That is what I’m hoping for.”

* * *

A while later, with the light streaming in the windows of the old building, with everyone working hard at their desks, Kim liked to imagine that it was a nice day at work and that the case wasn’t as horrific as it was turning out to be.

When Voight called for everyone to give their briefing, Kim stuck the photos on the evidence board and she knew she was overthinking it, but she hesitated, because where did she stand when she was finished? She let the others chip in with their information and tried to act normal as she stood back next to Jay. Trying to make them fitting together seem normal.

When they moved out to track down the drug dealer in the bar, the familiar feeling hit Kim; adrenaline. After years on the job, she’s learnt to nearly control it’s release. Voight barks out his orders like normal and she and Jay head over to the west side to breach. Rojas was really having a day. She caught the runner, and Kim had a good feeling about the other officer and her ability to fit into the unit.

After their collective outing, the day went by as run of the mill as it possibly could in Intelligence, they had to reconvene again after more investigation but Kim was finding it easier, adjusting to trying to automatically fall into step with Jay.

They went to the phone store to look through the footage. With no luck on the men that had bought burner phones, the footage that was flying by caught her attention. She caught sight of Alexa, the restaurant owner, buying a burner phone.

Jay was initially sceptical about looking for anyone but a man. Kim appreciated it though, that he was quickly willing to roll with her ideas and opinions.

The day just went downhill from there.

With Alexa relieved as the mastermind behind everything, they had to catch her out. Rojas stepped up to the plate and managed to get Karla to cooperate.

Talk about a tough ending to the day.

After the ill-fated altercation between Karla and Alexa, Jay and Kim drove back to the district together.

The silence lay heavy around them.

She had learnt a long time ago that being good partners, meant being there for each other during the aftermath of work too.

Kim wanted to reach out to Jay but she wasn’t sure how to go about it.

“So…do you think George and Eddie can work?”

“What?”

She had to try to laugh to stop cringing at her bad joke. “Our call codes on the radio? Sorry, bad joke.” She shook her head.

Jay pulled up to a stop at a red light, and Kim watched as he glanced over at her. Jay looking at her with a serious expression before breaking out into a smile and then a barking laugh. “Burgess, that was _terrible_.” 

It might have been a bad joke but it broke down the wall between them.

He seemed to hesitate before he spoke next, paying too much attention to the traffic lights. “Listen, we’re partners now, so no secrets, right?”

“Right.” Kim nodded, relief flooding her system, hoping this was setting a good precedence for them to have a good foundation.

“Okay, so back there… Voight,” He sighed, “He’ll tell us to fill in our reports saying that Alexa was armed during the altercation and Karla acted in self-defence.”

Kim had had a feeling, after all her years knowing Voight, that he would swing the story that way for Karla. She wasn’t all that surprised.

“Okay.” She said softly, “Won’t the video evidence stand in the way of that?”

Jay gripped the steering wheel enough to turn his knuckles white as the lights went green and they pulled off. “There is no video evidence. Camera got broken in the scrap before that.”

“Okay.”

“But Kim there’s no video evidence because Voight got rid of it. I just…wanted you to know the truth. It’s not pretty.”

“The truth rarely is Jay. But I appreciate it. Really.” She said.

“I just, you know, wanted George and Eddie to get off on a good foot.” He couldn’t help but grin as they pulled into the district backlot.

“You know what, I think they’ll be fine.” She smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Molly's was crowded that night. The room was abuzz with hearty laughter and loud chatter that was typical of a Friday night. Kim led her sister inside, nearly pushing through the crowd to get to the bar.

Going out to places like this was still a struggle for Nicole sometimes, but Kim could only admire her big sisters' determination to keep trying. Kim stuck by her side and pointed out familiar faces she knew from Firehouse 51 and Med. Familiarity meant safety which was always good for Nicole.

Kim found them two seats at the bar where Stella from the Firehouse greeted them with her usual gusto. "Well if it isn't my two favourite Burgess sisters. How are you two doing tonight?"

"Better now we're here, long day." Kim smiled back.

"I know about them." Stella commiserated, "The usual?"

"Yes please." Nicole said.

"Oh hey, how did Zoe's big presentation go?" Stella asked as she went about arranging the drinks.

This was why Kim was happy with her life in general. She had her sister and niece living nearer to her, she had a solid family in Intelligence and wide circle of friends in the other first responders.

Nicole dived into regaling how poor fourteen year old Zoe's big class presentation went and the ongoing anxiety about her move to highschool in the Fall. Kim happily sipped on her drink and listened in, relaxing after her day.

"Hey there Kim." Kim turned in surprise at the voice she had heard not that long ago.

Jay Halstead, complete with an outfit change and a rather appealing cologne, appeared at her side.

"Hey there Partner." Kim grinned.

"Partner. Are we going with full cowboy lingo now?" He asked, a grin playing on his lips.

"Oh yeah." She deadpanned, "Did you not get the memo about wearing the spurs?" She placed a hand under her chin to look at him.

"My hat's on order, don't worry." He nodded along.

She grinned back at him, she had always loved his quick wit. "Good to know." She said, "Oh hey, you know my sister, this is Nicole…" She leaned back to let her sister into the conversation.

"Oh sure, hey, how's it going?" He leaned over and shook her hand.

"Better than you, I hear you've been landed with this one?" Nicole smiled, nodding to Kim.

"They never said being a cop was easy." He sighed overdramatically, earning himself a teasing slap on his chest from Kim.

"Oh, shut up Halstead. You don't know how lucky you with me." Kim warned with a smile.

"So, she tells me." Jay told Nicole, pretending Kim wasn't between them.

"Hey Jay." Herrmann rambled over to serve him, "What can I get you?"

"Two more thanks Herrmann, Will had a rough day at work." He nodded discreetly back to where his brother was looking rather glum alone at a table among the crowd. "Would buying you a drink help me out in this whole trial basis thing?" He turned back to Kim with a smirk.

"Not a chance Jay." Kim laughed, "You still owe me stakeout food by the way." She pointed her finger at him.

"Alright." He held his hands up in surrender with a smile. Herrmann handed him his drinks and he turned back to Kim. "So, are we having a shootout at dawn then?"

Kim nodded and managed to keep a straight face, "I'll be the one on the horse."

"Okay." He grinned. "Hey, nice meeting you again Nicole." He leaned over to talk to her sister. "Have a good night you two." He took his drinks and moved away but not before tipping an imaginary cowboy hat at Kim making her laugh loud enough for Stella to look over from where she had drifted further down the bar.

"I'm sorry, but _that's_ Jay Halstead?" Nicole practically gaped as Jay walked away.

"Yeah, you met him before, at the District?" Kim asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Kim that was like three years ago, I was more concerned about chewing Adam out. Get back to the important part, _that's_ your partner?"

"Yes." Kim laughed, "Why?"

" _He's gorgeous!_ What are you, blind? Didn't you say he was single now?" Nicole fired at her.

"I…he's…" Kim said as she had to glance back over at Jay. She had always known he was a handsome man, there was no denying that. But she had never looked at him the way that Nicole was insinuating. "He's Jay, he's just Jay." She shrugged.

"Well, all I'm saying is that work is going to become a lot nicer if you get to drive around with him all day." Nicole grinned as she drank her soda and Stella drifted back over, "Stella, what do you think?" Nicole inclined her head to where Jay was sitting with Will.

Stella grinned, holding up her hands in surrender. "I mean I'm off shift, but I would consider breaking out the fire extinguisher, there were some sparks over here."

"Sparks where?" Herrmann asked as he walked by.

"Nowhere." Kim said firmly with a shake of her head. "They're being ridiculous."

Nicole hummed in a non-committal way before sipping her drink while raising her eyebrows at Kim.

"This is _Jay_. It's not like that. We're friends. We're partners now, which is even more important." Kim said.

"But you didn't deny it, you think he's good looking too." Nicole smirked.

Kim looked at her with an exasperated sigh, glancing back at Jay and lowering her voice. "Okay, yes, the man is beautiful and he's a great guy but what difference does that make?"

"You're both single is all I'm saying." Nicole defended.

Kim rolled her eyes.

* * *

When Kim got to work the following Monday morning, Rojas was already set up at Antonio's desk. Kim half paused, mid step. She didn't want to go chewing out the new recruit, but she thought they'd change seats, it made more logistical sense to sit near your partner.

Voight was already in his office and Rojas looked like she was getting a jump on the caseload. When Kevin, Adam, Jay and Hailey came up the stairs within seconds of Kim getting in and Voight calling for them to pay attention to a new lead they had gotten, Kim never got the chance to suggest the change.

Everyone jumped into action soon after so Kim she left the desk issue alone. It certainly wasn't important when they suddenly had an in with a drug dealer they had been chasing for months.

They got down to work, setting Adam up for the undercover with Kevin as his back up. Hailey and Vanessa were in the van on surveillance, to give Vanessa an insight into how it worked and Kim found herself in the car with Jay, ready for any backup needed.

Ruzek and Atwater had just entered the bar when Jay spoke up.

"Hey, would it be weird?" Jay asked.

"Would what be weird?" Kim looked at her partner, wondering if he expected her to read his mind.

Jay shook his head, starting over, "I mean would you mind if I gave your sister my card?"

His card, with his number on it. Kim didn't pretend to know what Jay Halstead's type was, but she couldn't explain the odd prickling sensation in her stomach. Two days on the job with her and he wanted to date Nicole?

Nicole always got the guys.

Kim looked out her own window briefly to recompose herself, it wasn't that _she_ wanted Jay. No way. Not happening.

"Oh sure thing…I mean she's not seeing anyone right now so…"

Jay started laughing, that was not the reaction Kim had been expecting.

"What?" She shot a bit too sharply.

"No, I didn't mean it like _that_." He said. "Don't get me wrong your sister is great but I meant that we're partners now right? I know she has you to call if she ever needed help. And she knows Intelligence has her back, right? But now with me and you, just if she ever needed anything, she can rely on me too, you know?"

Kim just managed to blink, looking out the window before regaining her composure. "Thank you, Jay." She nodded. "Yeah that would be great. She'd... _I_ would really appreciate it."

"Okay then." Jay nodded back before surveying the scene across the road. "And there they are."

"Suspect is approaching the bar." Jay spoke into the open line as he and Kim slunk back into their seats.

"Copy that, I'm in position." Kevin replied.

"And now we wait." Jay said as the suspect approached the back door of the bar. Kim tried to relax but rested her hand on the door handle just in case they'd need to make chase.

She took her eyes off the bar door for a split second as Jay wordlessly leaned over to open the compartment box and pulled out a bag of candy and a bag of chips and handed them to Kim.

Jay turned his attention back to the door. "Thought I'd get on your good side straight, _partner._ "

She grinned at him before Hailey looped them into the chatter on the wire Adam was wearing.

"What do you mean you want more money, man we agreed a price?"

"Yeah and you want the product, so more money, is it going to be a problem?"

Adam hesitated and Kim bit her lip.

"Nah man…just give me a couple days to get the cash." Adam responded.

"Days? I don't waste my time. You have more money by tonight at 9 or the deals off." Kim winced as the sound of chairs scrapping along the ground played over the radio.

"Look man," Adam started.

"Don't touch me."

"Hey, hey, alright, look…just give me some time."

"I don't got time!" Desperation permeated the man's raised voice.

"Alright I'll try and work something out."

"I got personal interest in this, I need that money by tonight."

"Okay, look if there's…"

"Don't touch him!" Another man's voice entered the fray with a sound that never failed to make Kim's blood run cold. A gun being pulled.

"Woah, woah, woah…Man tell your boy to back off." Adam's voice was hard.

"So, are you going to get me the money or not?" The first man demanded. Kim wished she had eyes because she then heard it over the radio.

Kevin calling the safe word.

"Move in. Take 'em" Voight's voice came loud and clear over the radio.

Kim didn't know who moved first, but both her and Jay were out of the car, guns pulled and racing toward the building within seconds. In her sweep of the area, Kim could see Hailey and Vanessa out of the corner of her eye doing the same thing at the other entrance.

Jay and Kim paused at the door before bursting in. "Chicago PD!"

It had become almost habitually, to turn chaos into calm. Having split seconds to rectify a situation.

With the shock of them entering, Adam managed to get a hit in and dive out of the grip of what Kim assumed was the bodyguard who had had a gun to Adam's head. Kevin then jumped the guy and contained him as Hailey and Vanessa burst through the opposite door.

"You got a runner!" Hailey shouted, causing Kim to turn from where she was getting all the patrons to raise their hands and clearing the area of other suspects.

"Got it!" Was all she managed to shout back as she raced toward the door that just swung on it's hinges as the suspect had managed to sneak out and flee.

Kim didn't know when she had begun to think she had to work alone.

Maybe it was after a lifetime of going against what everyone else expected of her. Becoming a cop, after all, was not the dynastic plan. And she was a female on the force which was just another aspect she felt alone in for the majority of the time. And then she had been with partners she couldn't rely on.

So, when she raced after the offender, she was slightly startled by Jay's voice calling after her to tell her that he'd cover the parallel street.

Kim gave chase, her feet pounding the pavement, having to dodge trash cans and whatever else the guy could push down behind him to stall her.

Thankfully for her lungs, the guy took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end.

She shouted at him to stop, to give up, to surrender but he was having none of it. In the blink of an eye, he turned from the fence and ran at her.

"Kim!" Jay's voice behind her made her put her feet down even more, she had backup, she certainly wasn't backing down now.

She managed to duck out of the guy's way mostly, but got her arm around his shoulder, breaking his run and heaving him back. Not quick enough to dodge his stray elbow that collided with her jaw, but enough to unbalance him and put him on the ground.

Jay was beside her in an instant, already haven called for backup, pointing his gun at the guy while Kim handcuffed him. "You good?"

"Yeah." She said through the sickly taste of blood from her bitten lip, "I'm good."

After they had gotten back to the district, Kim was happy to let the others take care of interrogating the suspect while she went to get changed. She was just closing her locker when Jay appeared around the corner.

"Ouch that's quite a shiner you got there." He said, looking at the bruise blooming on her tender jawline.

"Thanks." She replied with a joking roll of her eyes, "That's what every woman wants to hear." She retorted.

Jay just grinned and held out an ice pack to her, "Figured you could use this."

"Oh, thank you." She took the pack and sad down on the bench behind her, placing the cooling pack to her jaw.

"No problem. That was _quite_ the take down by the way." He said in admiration as he leaned against the lockers.

Kim just smiled as much as she could with the ache in her jaw.

"Thanks for having my back."

"Hey." He said, "What are partners for?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hey Burgess?" Trudy motioned with her hand for Kim to approach the desk, pulling her away from her morning catch up with Kevin.

"See you upstairs." Kevin called as Kim wondered if it was a good or bad call from Trudy. She was never quite sure with Trudy Platt, but Kim loved her anyway.

"What's up Sarge?" Kim asked with a smile, placing her arms on the desk like she had done on patrol.

"Heard you got a new partner." Trudy said, lowering her voice.

"Yep. Why?"

"Nothing, just making sure it's going okay?" Kim smiled to herself, no matter how much Trudy pretended she didn't, the Desk Sergeant really did care.

"Yeah, it's good. Can't complain. Halstead's good police."

Trudy scoffed, "I _know_ that. That guy is one of the good ones. You two are getting along okay?"

"Yeah Sarge." Kim nodded earnestly. She didn't know why it weirdly felt like she was trying to defend a guy she wanted to date to her Dad back in highschool.

"Well you know it's just after everything with Antonio and Lord knows you got some misfires on Patrol so I just wanted to make sure you got to have someone you can work with." Trudy explained and Kim nearly had to pinch herself. If someone had told her the first day on patrol at the 21st District that Desk Sergeant Trudy Platt would be looking out for her, she would have laughed until she cried.

"Hey Halstead!" Trudy straightened up and called over Kim's shoulder.

Kim glanced around to see Jay walking into the station, "Hey Sarge. Hi Kim." He stood on Kim's right at the desk. "What's up? Everything okay?"

"You two are partners now?" Trudy asked in her usual no-nonsense manner.

"Yeah…?" Kim hid her smile, Jay answered hesitantly as if he didn't know if that was the right answer under Trudy's hard stare.

"Well good. You two are solid police, but you got to have each other's backs you hear?"

"Completely agree Sarge." Jay responded while Kim nodded along with a hum of agreement.

Trudy regarded them each for a few seconds before nodding in approval and continuing, "Okay that's all. Now go on, I ain't got all day to stop and chat. Up you go." She shooed them away from her desk and motioned to the Intelligence gate. Kim knew under her nonchalance was a message to stay safe.

Jay and Kim both looked at each other before bidding their desk Sergeant a good day.

"Why do I feel like she just officiated our wedding?" Jay whispered with a confused grin as they made their way up the stairs.

Kim laughed, "You _never_ question Platt Jay, thought you knew that by now?" Kim put in her fingerprint and code and opened the security door for them. "She's just looking out for us."

"Yeah. I know." He said seriously.

"But I won't say no if ever feel like buying me diamonds, my dear 'work husband'." She teased and Jay just laughed in reply.

"But it is okay if Platt still scares me, right?" He asked as they entered the bullpen.

"Who still scares you?" Kevin asked as he turned from his desk, hearing half the conversation.

"Kim. She terrifies me man. Help me." He said to Kevin as he took a quick step away from Kim and pretended to plead with Atwater.

"Yeah you better run Halstead." Kim called with a smile.

Jay scoffed, "Why do you think I stay safely over this side of the room?" He called from his desk with a grin.

Kim had never gotten to change desks, their days were too busy for such medial tasks.

"He just can't handle how awesome I am." Kim informed Kevin in a matter-of-fact manner.

Kevin shook his head at the pair. "I'm not getting involved, especially not before my morning caffeine hit, want any?" He asked as he made his way to the break room.

They didn't get to answer as Voight came out of his office, early at work as usual, with a call from patrol. Another case.

It had taken until the second week of the upheaval before Kim would stop looking at Voight twice when he said her and Jay would go together, thinking their Sergeant made a mistake.

"Bet you I can get this guy to crack first." Jay smirked at her as they were getting out of their car.

"Oh, you're so on." She replied, as they crossed the road to the small store. They were eighty percent sure the worker in the store was withholding information from the crime scene earlier that day.

They crossed the busy street and Kim couldn't help but be assured in her footing, she really felt like they were settling into being partners well.

She opened the door but then stopped and stepped aside, "After you," she swept her hand dramatically in the direction of the store "You can have the first crack at him, I'll be nice." She grinned.

He smiled and walked in ahead of her.

It was a nice development of their partnership, she had never seen Jay smile as much. She put it down to sharing the same sense of humor, it certainly made work more entertaining.

"Hey there." Jay called to the worker behind the counter, he held up his badge upon seeing no other customers in the store. "I'm Detective Halstead, this is Officer Burgess, we have some follow up questions from this morning."

Kim closed the door behind them but paused for a second when she thought she heard another door close. She glanced out the window onto the street, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she was now on alert.

She walked around the store, down the small aisles filled with groceries, keeping an eye on Jay as he went about investigating the worker. She bit back a smile when he had introduced them. So far, the fact that she wasn't a detective didn't seem to bother Jay, it was just like having different second names whenever he introduced them.

Kim walked by the backroom door that was left ajar and took a quick glance down the hallway, everything seemed normal.

"I'm…I'm sorry I don't know anything else." The worker, a young man in his twenties said again as Kim approached the counter. Jay shot her a quick look. The guy totally knew something.

"Look man, you even said it yourself this morning, you saw the hijacking and crash right outside earlier, just take another look at these photos, please?" Jay asked, placing his phone in front of the guy.

The guy shook his head, " _I've told you everything I know_." He pleaded.

His eyes flickered toward the backroom for a split second.

Jay caught it. He glanced at Kim with a raised eyebrow.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched so she just tossed her hair over her left shoulder, trying to discreetly give her partner a clear sight line to the backroom.

If Kim hadn't been working with Jay for two weeks she would have missed the almost imperceptible nod he gave her. "…And you said the security cameras aren't working?" He asked the witness.

The terrified look the man sent the in-store cameras were all they needed to make a move.

Kim made up her mind. There was definitely something happening in the backroom and she got the feeling the cameras were in working order, working enough that right now they were under surveillance.

"Hey..." Kim jumped in, "Do you mind then if we run through the scene one more time with you, just from where you saw it on the sidewalk outside? Seeing as the cameras aren't working, we just need to get a clear view of what was visible during the incident again or our Sergeant will come down on us, please?" She asked.

The witness didn't seem happy about it. "And then we'll be out of your hair. Believe me, we don't want to waste anymore of your time, we just have to get some report back before we can go on our lunch break man." She lied.

"Okay, yeah this is the last time right?"

Jay swapped a look with Kim, following her lead. "That's it." He confirmed.

The witness went to walk down along the counter to come out from behind it and Jay put a hand on Kim's back, pretending to let her go first but really just giving them a few seconds to make a plan while not getting caught on camera.

"Get him outside. Hit the back I'll cover the front."

"Got it Partner." He nodded.

"Thanks again for this." She told the witness as they got outside.

"It's okay, so I ran out to here and I looked across to there." He turned to point down the street while Kim pretended to listen and take notes, Jay indicated that he was going down the back alley.

"Okay here's how this goes. There are people in the back, they're keeping an eye on you? My partner is gone around the back. Are they armed?" She asked walking the witness down the sidewalk out of view of the store windows.

The guy looked like a deer caught in headlights.

She shot him a glare, her hand on her radio.

He nodded, "And they have my niece. I couldn't tell you anything. They said not to snitch and she'll live."

"Jay, we got a hostage situation." Kim hurried in whispering down her radio. "You stay here, call 911 and ask for backup." She shoved her phone at the witness, who was too shaken to do anything but follow her orders. "I'm coming in the front." She pulled her gun and re-entered the store.

"Breaching." Jay's voice came over her radio before she heard the backdoor crashing. She heard a lot of scuffling, as she headed for the door at the back of the store.

Kim made her way through the half-open door silently and then took in the other three doors in the small hallway.

"Just let the girl go and we can work this out. You're hurt man and your friend doesn't look so good either, he needs to get to the hospital. Let me call for help." Jay's voice led Kim to the door on the left, also left ajar, she positioned herself to get a good sight line.

Jay had his gun drawn at the man who had the little girl in his grip while his associate was slumped against the wall, covered in blood, looking unconscious.

"Where's the other one of you? The woman?" The man asked with a crazed edge to his voice.

"She's out the front with the guy from the store, they're walking over the crime scene. You saw them go." Kim had to commend Jay for his quick thinking after seeing the CCTV on the screens on the desk to the right. The store front was on the screens but no one in front of it.

The guy hesitated. "And look I'll tell her not to come around okay, just you and me." Jay glanced at Kim so quick she almost missed it herself, not knowing that he had seen her in the first place. She turned the sound off her radio. "Kim, there's no one around here but I have some CCTV I gotta look through, you keep the perp around the front." He talked through his radio.

"How do I know she'll do what you say?" The girl gave a cry as she squirmed and the guy gripped her hair tighter in his hand.

"I'm a detective, she's an officer. You heard that when we arrive. She's gotta do what I say." Jay told him. "Look I'm putting my gun down, we got to talk about this, I can help you out but you need to let that little girl go."

Kim was nearly bowled over by how much trust he was putting in her as he placed his gun down on the ground. He was trusting she could take over.

She wasn't about to let him down.

When Jay stood back up with no gun the guy loosened his grip on the girl but still had his gun in his hand.

"Can you just let her walk towards me, if she's safe I can work out a deal for you man." Jay said calmly.

A million scenarios played through Kim's head of what she could do next. She didn't exactly have time to write up a pro and con list so she acted on instinct.

She took one deep breath to steady herself then moved.

The assailant was no expert so she slammed the door open loudly to startle him, enough that he let his grip on the girl slip.

Jay moved just as quickly, grabbing the little girl and shielding her with his body as he rushed her to the open door.

Kim got a hand on the assailant's wrist that was waving his gun around, twisting it roughly while landing a few kicks at his opposite knee to bring him down. She landed on top of him, knocking the air out of her lungs as he struggled after his gun had slipped from his hand and rattled across the floor.

She managed to handcuff the perp as he shouted at them while Jay handed the girl over to patrol who were now at the backdoor.

Her eyes glanced over to find the perp's gun and her blood ran like iced daggers through her veins. The gun wasn't on the floor where it had fallen.

"Jay!" She all but screamed in her partner's direction as she scrambled off the floor and across the room.

Jay turned around in flash, but Kim was already lunging for the other assailant who they had assumed was unconscious who had picked up the gun and was holding it in Jay's direction.

Kim somehow managed to get a hand near the gun as the perp pulled the trigger. He screamed in agony as she knocked him sideways from where he was half crouching. She pinned him down and grabbed the gun while also looking over, half crazed with panic, toward where Jay had been standing.

He was standing, his chest heaving, and pointed with a shaky hand to the hole in the wall over his right shoulder where the bullet had lodged.

He was okay.

Kim managed to take a shaky breath. He was okay.

Patrol took over the arrest as Jay walked over and gave her a hand up. "Thanks Kim."

"Anytime." She said breathlessly with a ghost of a smile.

The guy who had been working in the store had come in and wouldn't let his niece out of his hug, crying in relief and kissing the top of her head. "Thank you. I can't thank you enough. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But after the carjacking this morning they ran through the store and took her, they said they wouldn't let her go, they needed to hide and I couldn't tell you, they were watching." He rambled.

"It's alright man, none of this is your fault." Jay reassured him, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Miss, your phone was ringing." He handed Kim her phone and when she glanced at the screen she winced. The entire unit had blown up her phone with calls.

"Shots fired at the police? What the hell happened?" Voight appeared in the doorway, with his voice loud, causing the patrol officers to jump slightly. "Are you two alright?" He asked, appraising his shaken team members.

"Yeah, we're good Serge." Jay said, "Hostage situation, these are the guys from the carjacking, Burgess saved my life." He gave the minimal rundown and then Voight looked over at her.

"The guy grabbed the gun I hadn't secured, the shooting was my fault Serge." She said, steadying herself for a chewing out. She should never have let the gun out of her sight.

"Kim…!" Jay started to protest. "Serge, this is _not_ on Kim. We're a team, I could have secured the gun too."

Voight looked at them both. "Well next time someone had better secure the damn gun." He said and then surveyed the scene, "But good work you two. Meet us back at the District, we got another case."

They finished up with the scene and Kim had to stop Jay before they left the store, "Jay, you don't have to defend me like that. I should have got that gun."

"Kim." Jay stopped her. "I know you. You can hold your ground, it's not that. It's that you just saved me from taking a bullet. Neither of us gave that other guy a second glance. That's on us both. We're both fine, that's what counts. And your quick thinking means none of us are in the way to the hospital right now."

Kim deflated, she still felt bad. Fearful this could put a wedge between them.

"We're good?" He asked with a hopeful little smile on his lips.

"I'm glad you're okay." She told him. "But yeah of course we're good."

With that, they headed to their car and back to their station.

Later that day as they were all packing up to go home for the night, Jay caught Kim in the locker room, "Hey, I'm heading home. Thanks again for today." He told her.

"You don't need to thank me." She retorted, grabbing her shower things. She had managed to change her clothes when they had got back to the station earlier and scrubbed the second assailant's blood from her hands but she had the urge to shower before she left, she still felt grimy.

"Well I'm willing to start nearly agreeing with what you said earlier." He said.

"What's that?"

"You might _sometimes_ be awesome Burgess." He said, "But don't go getting a big head." He laughed. "Good night."

"Night Jay." She laughed at him as he left.

Kim had her much needed shower and went back to the locker room to pack up for the night. "Hey Vanessa, you still here?" She asked the new recruit who was at her own locker.

"Yeah, still getting my head around the paperwork." The younger woman admitted.

"Hey if you ever need a hand give me a shout, or just throw it over the desk to me." Kim smiled. "I'm not a detective or anything but I was new here once too, it's an…adjustment?"

"That sounds about right." Vanessa admitted with a smile.

"Hey some time you're free, me you and Hailey should grab a drink in Molly's." Kim said as she opened her locker. "Female cops gotta stick together and all that right?"

"That sounds great, thanks Kim." Vanessa replied.

Vanessa grabbed her bag and stood up to leave, "Oh by the way Sergeant Platt and Detective Halstead were here a few minutes ago, they left something in your locker I think. Just so you don't miss it. Have a good night Kim."

Vanessa left and Kim looked at her locker with intrigue. Platt had the combinations to every locker in the building, she could give access to her locker to Jay. She opened it up and found a packet of candy laying on one of her shelves along with a note, written in Jay's handwriting.

_Couldn't find diamonds on short notice but hope these are a good substitute. Owe you one Kim._

She laughed as she picked up the packet, the contents of which were branded as diamond shaped candy.

There were two envelopes under the packet so she picked them up to find one marked for Nicole and one marked for Zoe. Jay's detective information card was inside each one.

Kim's heart melted, the guy was even looking out for her niece.

Not for the first time, Kim was happy that she had gotten Jay as her new partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe everyone.


	4. Chapter 4

"You okay Jay?" Kim asked after a particularly horrendous day at work. She found him in the locker room after he had left rather abruptly after Voight had cleared them for the night. It was unlike Jay to leave anything unresolved on his desk. She felt as bad as he looked, covered in dirt, grime and blood. Kim was beginning to feel her adrenaline wearing off and the tiredness starting to seep into her bones.

She had caught him sitting on one of the benches staring at the ground.

Jay had held the little boy in his arms as he died a few hours earlier.

Innocent victim that got caught in gang gunfire before they had arrived.

Her partner looked up with a haunted look in his eye, "Kim?" He seemed surprised to find her there. Apparently, he hadn't even heard her enter the room.

"Hey." She replied softly. These kind of cases were the worst part of the job. And they hit everyone differently. "How are you?"

Jay shook his head with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as if trying to wake himself from the nightmares that were plaguing him. "I'll be alright."

Kim missed his smile, ached for the brightness stolen from his eyes.

She pretended to move to her locker to be busy with something, "Want to talk about it?"

Jay scrunched his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose for a few seconds before he stood up, "Nah, I'm good. Thanks Kim. See you tomorrow?" He asked as he reached for his bag.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Jay…" She didn't know how to go about it, it was the first heart breaking case they had gone through together. She suddenly felt at a loss of how to help him. He was her partner and he was suffering and she didn't know how to be there for him. Would he want her to leave him alone or stay with him?

"Yeah?"

She hesitated, shutting her locker. "Do you want to grab a drink in Molly's?" She tried with the popular method of drowning sorrows.

"No thanks. Don't really feel like being around people tonight. Rain check?"

"Oh yeah. Sure. Of course." She nodded, kicking herself, as his partner she should know how to help.

"Have a good evening Kim." His words lacked their usual warmth.

"You too partner." She tried to joke. But he didn't even look back at her.

Kim made her way back to the bullpen where she had been finishing up her paperwork when she had seen Jay call it a night.

Only Hailey was left in the dimly lit room now.

Hailey.

Perfect.

Kim sighed in relief, if anyone knew how to get through to Jay it was Hailey.

"Hey Hailey?" Kim approached the detective's desk.

"Oh hey Kim, didn't realise you were still here. What's up?"

Kim paused, wondering if she was overreacting. "You know about being Jay's partner. Mind if I ask you something about him?"

Hailey put her pen down and gave Kim her full attention. "Of course. Shoot."

Kim gave her an appreciative smile, "It's just…It was a bad call for him today. And I want to be there, you know if he needs me, but I don't know how. Any advice?"

Hailey leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "Jay's great."

"I know."

"Yeah." Hailey nodded, "But when things like this go down, he has a tendency to shut down. He'll keep it inside and shut everyone else down. I mean we all do the same at one point or another." She shrugged, "But Jay, with his history on tour and things, I think…he won't admit it, but he likes for people to reach out even when he thinks he doesn't need it. He might shut down and not ask for help, but he likes to have someone being there for him."

Kim nodded, taking her words in.

"You two are good together you know." Hailey said as she reached over and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. "That's Jay address. Sometimes it's good to drop in on him unannounced, he's stubborn so don't expect a terribly warm welcome." She handed the paper to Kim with a small smile.

"Thanks Hailey. That's great. Thank you." She nodded.

"Sure." Hailey said, "Anytime."

Kim was halfway back to her desk when Hailey spoke up, "But, hey, you know that you shouldn't beat yourself up what happened to Antonio. We're all a team and none of us suspected anything."

Kim nodded, after Antonio left, everyone had let go. Everyone but Kim.

That was why Kim was happy to have Hailey as part of the Intelligence Unit, nothing escaped the detective, and she cared about the team.

"Thanks Hailey."

"And Rojas mentioned a girls night out sometime? Because I would be up for that." Hailey grinned.

"Rain check on tonight." Kim said, holding up Jay's address, "But yes that is the plan."

"A good one too." Hailey smiled, "Have a good day off tomorrow."

"You too Hailey."

* * *

Kim rapped three times on the numbered door that matched the address Hailey had given her.

She took an instinctive step back from the door while she waited for answer. Some calls stayed with a person and taking a bullet all those years ago had never really left her.

Kim heard the door unlock before it opened, and a cautious Jay appeared in the doorway. "Kim, everything okay?" He automatically looked over her shoulder for trouble. For something he could save.

He had a big heart, her partner.

"Yeah everything's fine." Kim said. "I just thought…after the call today you could use some company?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to overstep their newfound companionship.

Jay sighed, rubbing his eyes, "You don't have to Kim. I'm fine."

"Yeah but…"

"But nothing." Jay cut across her, effectively shutting her down. Kim narrowed her eyes a fraction, she could dig her heels in too, she made an effort to never give up on her partners and she wasn't about to start now.

"Goodnight Kim." He went to shut the door but she reached up and slapped her hand against it, forcing it to stay open. Jay almost jumped in surprise.

She didn't give up easily.

"I'm not going anywhere Jay." She stated. "We had a rough call. We're partners. I thought we were starting this off right? Let me be here for you."

His shoulders dropped slightly, but enough for Kim to know that he was giving in. "I'm fine." He insisted, but it lacked the previous steel.

"That's great." She said with her eyebrows raised, "So you can sit and listen to me. I had a rough day, I need my partner to talk to." She changed tack.

She was rewarded by him fighting a small smile from his lips. "You're persistent."

She shrugged one shoulder. "It's the number one rule in the partners handbook." She deadpanned.

He very nearly grinned, tilting his head to the side, "Wearing the boots and hat is the next rule?"

"You betcha." She stated with a hopeful smile. "Mostly I just have experience in dealing with stubborn idiots on flights and you got to be persistent to sit them the heck down." She said, memories of her days as a flight attendant echoed through her mind. "You going to let me in now?" She asked after she had stepped forward, crossed the threshold and came face to face with him in the shadow of the doorway.

Jay gave a ghost of a laugh as he closed the door with his left arm, his eyes never leaving hers. "Make yourself at home?"

She looked up at him with a smile.

"Wait. I'm not stubborn. And I'm not an idiot." He stated.

She looked him up and down, then pretended to contemplate her answer, "I'm not sure on the stubborn part but if you say so."

"I'm pretty certain that partners handbook says you shouldn't insult the other one." He sparred lightly back. "And I'm not stubborn."

She raised his eyes at his stubborn argument and he seemed to catch himself and his next smile very nearly reached his eyes.

"Alright you win. C'mon in, want a coffee? I just made a pot." He asked as he led her into his kitchen.

"Coffee?" She had been hoping for something stronger.

His kitchen was clean and well-kept. Not that she was surprised, his desk at work was meticulously organised.

He shrugged, almost self-consciously, "Beer didn't seem like a good idea tonight and I didn't feel like sleeping."

"Then one coffee please." She said, taking a seat at one of the stools at the island as he walked around in front of her and reached for another mug. "And it's good you can stay awake because I have the sudden urge to recount all my horrendous experiences as a flight attendant and it might take a while."

"Oh yeah?" He asked, looking up with a grin while he poured the coffee into their mugs.

"Yeah." She replied with a nod, taking her mug. "There are some experiences, trapped in a metal container with a hundred strangers in the air, that you can just never forget." She grimaced and threw in a fake shudder to add to the effect.

"Can't be as crazy as some of the things you'd find on patrol." He passed her a mug and leaned against the island across from her and sipped from his own mug.

"Oh boy. You have no idea. Poor sweet innocent Halstead." She grinned, "I was just like that on my first flight too."

"Ok then, hit me with the craziest flight." He settled in, eyes focused on her one hundred percent. She glanced away and then back at him, wondering if his eyes had always been that blue.

But that didn't matter, what mattered was the fact that he almost seemed to forget the dark cloud that had been linger by his shoulders.

"Okay, there was this one flight where this woman…"

Kim tried to make her punch lines a bit funnier and may have embellished parts of her stories but it was all for a good cause. Her storytelling made Jay laugh.

She hit him with a few of the more extreme flights in terms of people's lack of patience and downright ridiculous requests.

Her stories lasted them through the first pot of coffee.

By the second pot they had moved to his living room to sit down on the comfortable sofas, the coffee table holding their mugs between them. By then they were swapping stories of their time in the police academy.

"Man, Dempsey was the worst." Jay laughed, his head lying back on the cushions at one end of the other sofa.

Kim laughed in agreement and lay her head back against the arm of the sofa she was on. Despite the caffeine, she stifled a yawn and reached for her phone, "What time is it?" She wondered aloud, the second pot of coffee had been finished off a long time ago.

Jay turned his head and looked at her with tired eyes.

"It's 4am." She answered her own question before sitting up. "I better get going."

Jay sat up too, his t-shirt was creased, and his hair was mussed. Kim couldn't help but like this version of her partner. "Sorry Kim, I didn't mean to keep you…"

"Are you kidding me? I had a blast." Kim said, putting her shoes back on, "And my sister won't listen to my stories anymore." She shot him a grin.

"You okay to get home?" He asked as he walked her to the door, tiredness in his voice. But no sadness intertwined in it anymore, Kim noticed.

"Yeah I'll be fine, thanks Jay." She said as he opened the door for her and she hesitated for a moment. If it were Adam or Kevin, she wouldn't have hesitated to hug them but with Jay she found herself overthinking it.

"Alright, goodnight Kim." He said, with a warm smile.

"'Night Jay." She echoed as she made her way down the steps and across the street to her car. He didn't leave the doorway until she had pulled off.

She drove through the dark streets of Chicago just as another day was about to start. She made it to her apartment and found herself unable to do anything but make it to her bed and crash for the remainder of the night.

* * *

The shrill ringing of her phone woke Kim up. She reached blearily in the direction of her nightstand and somehow managed to answer it, laying it against her ear as she remained lying down.

Didn't people realise it was her day off?

"Hey Kim."

Jay's voice. She sat up straight away but his voice didn't portray urgency of work matters. In fact, it sounded warm and conversational.

"Jay, hey…" She cringed at her hoarse morning voice.

"Crap, did I wake you? Sorry."

She found herself straightening her hair for no reason, it wasn't like he could see her through the earpiece of the phone. She shook her head, trying to wake herself up and clear her head of the ridiculous thoughts, it didn't matter either way what she looked like. This was Jay.

"No, it's fine." She said, "It was just that some guy kept me up late last night with coffee. What time is it? I think I crashed after coming home."

"Sounds like a weird guy." He said, "It's 2.30."

"Damn Halstead, who knew you would be the person to introduce me to the caffeine hangover?"

The sound of his laugh at the other end of the line brightened up her room more than opening the blinds would.

"Well I hear that weird guy would like to buy you lunch, to make up for that."

"Lunch?"

"Bit late for a hangover breakfast, right?"

"Right." She agreed.

"That is if you don't mind seeing me on your day off?" The hesitation in his voice was not something that she had ever associated with Jay.

"You're right I'd have to think about that…" She teased. "Of course I don't mind, any ideas of where we're going?"

"I know a place, I'll text you the details."

* * *

"Why do you look so awake right now?" She asked him with a mock glare as she joined him at his table in the diner.

Jay gave a half smile, glancing away as if seeing something from memory come alive right before his eyes. "On tour…sometimes there was no sleep, so you get used to running on minimal shut eye."

Kim kicked herself for asking, the last thing she wanted to do was dredge up such bad memories on such a sunny day in the city.

"Right. Of course. Sorry." She tried to recover, "I mean if you ever did want to talk about…if you don't either…I mean…Not that you couldn't before…but now…"

She couldn't stop the words coming out of her mouth as she tried desperately to correct herself, to try to show Jay that would be there for him.

He just looked at her, his eyes dancing, "Are you going to keep digging yourself into that hole?"

She laughed, "Apparently so. I just meant…"

"Kim." He said, leaning over the table towards her, "I know what you meant. I appreciate it. Really."

"Okay. Good. Yeah." She nodded at him earnestly.

He looked at her as if he expected her to continue.

She held her hands up, "I'll shut up now. Promise."

"You don't have to. You're like a…" He hesitated again.

She raised her eyebrows in teasing, "Watch what you say next Halstead." She grinned.

He bit back a laugh, "You're like a breath of fresh air Burgess."

"Good air, right?" She pretended to clarify with a grin.

"Alright stop fishing for compliments." He smiled, and she looked at him closer, was that red on his cheeks?

Jay occupied himself by reaching for the menus on the table and gave one to her.

"You come here regularly?" She looked up from her menu when he didn't take one too.

"It was like a home from home when me and Will were growing up. We used to think we were so grown up hanging out here by ourselves when we were kids. Never realising of course that the owners were friends of my grandparents, they kept an eye on us." He smiled, reminiscing about his childhood. Kim couldn't help but be intrigued, it was something she had never heard much of before. Their line of work didn't exactly leave much time to have heart to hearts with he whole team while they were breaching a crime scene.

"This place has been in the one family for as long as I can remember. They're good people. And they have great food. Their special sandwich is what I'd go with."

Her eyes roamed over the menu, "That's not here."

"Exactly." He grinned. "Family secret."

They ordered their food and silence fell while they waited. Kim didn't mind hanging out with Jay, but she got the feeling there was a reason he had asked to meet up on their day off and not just talk to her on their next shift.

He sighed, giving up rearranging the salt and pepper shakers for the second time, "Kim, I just…I wanted to thank you for last night. For stopping by."

"Oh you don't have to thank me it was nothing…"

"It wasn't nothing Kim." He cut her off. "I can get a bit…stubborn." A grin played on his lips. "So, you being persistent…I appreciate that."

Kim shrugged, "I've been told I'm stubborn too. Seems like it'll work in our favour then?"

He nodded, "Seems like it." He held her gaze that felt far too intimate for a late lunch with a work colleague so Kim was nearly glad when the waitress came back with their food.

"Thanks Cassie," Jay said, "Hey, how's your baby girl doing?"

"Great thanks." She beamed, "He's almost walking now, Gramps wants to recruit him as a waiter already." She rolled her eyes in jest, "You two enjoy your food, give me a call if you need anything."

"Her Grandparents are the owners." Jay explained, setting about eating his food. But Kim couldn't take her eyes off of him. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, "You just…"

"I just…?"

"You have a big heart. Not many people would care about other people the way you do."

When Jay didn't say anything in response just looked at her with something akin to intrigue and she was afraid she'd over stepped, Kim quickly took up her sandwich and dug in just to change the conversation.

The first bite was pure bliss to her empty stomach, she didn't even feel embarrassed when she practically moaned in pleasure "This is so good."

"Told you." He smirked.

They ate for a few minutes in companionable silence before Jay spoke again.

"That call yesterday was rough." He admitted. "Would have been a bad night if you hadn't called."

"We're partners." She shrugged in answer. "That's what I'm here for."

He nodded, seeming to mull over his next words, "I guess I wanted you to know that I'm still going to therapy actually. I have a handle on some things better and it keeps me in check. Some things…they never leave you, but it helps me cope with them better."

"That's good to hear Jay, really."

"What do you do, with a bad call?" He asked.

"Usually make a beeline for Molly's." She admitted after a few seconds of thinking about it. "I can take care of myself." Al and Antonio, while great partners, hadn't been ones she could wallow with afterwards.

"You are stubborn too." He nodded with a smirk.

"Okay, usually I make bad decisions. Usually that involves Adam." She cringed at her own behaviour.

But no judgement came from Jay.

"I guess for a long time he was the person I'd turn to. But after Blair..I just got to start letting that go. It doesn't help." She found herself explaining things to Jay that she hadn't even really explained to herself yet. "We're completely over." She didn't know why she had the compelling need to clarify that specific fact. "It was just a bad cycle we had going."

Jay laughed quietly and Kim was frozen with fear that he was laughing at her.

"I can just see visions of myself as a middle school teacher at those dances and trying to keep you both a foot apart at all times." He said, "Hands where I can see them kind of thing."

"Man those dances were the worst." She grinned along. "Bet they really cramped your charm huh?"

Jay huffed, "Oh I had zero game in eighth grade." He fake shuddered.

"Oh, so you have game now?" She asked with a laugh.

"Hey Burgess, I can be charming when I want to be." He argued.

"You tell yourself that Halstead." She shot back and they both laughed.

He held up his glass of water to her, more coffee had looked like a bad idea, "So here's the deal, you ignore my stubbornness after a bad call and I'll make sure you get home safe from Molly's?"

"You got yourself a deal Jay." She clinked her glass off his.

"And a pretty great partner." He added with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a quiet week for the Intelligence Unit. Well, as quiet as Kim thought it could ever really get in the elite department. They had already closed a case and were working on a set up to hopefully close another.

The bullpen was empty, save for Kim and Jay. Voight had gotten a tip he was off chasing. Kevin and Vanessa were working an undercover deal and Hailey and Adam were their backup.

Which meant that Kim and Jay were running point from base. Which wasn't much work today, they had to search two addresses and run three or four names so far.

Jay was attacking his paperwork while Kim kept an eye on her monitor and went about digging through a few social media accounts for links in the case.

They stayed silent while the radio was on so Hailey and Adam could send information straight through.

"They are being cagey about this." Hailey sighed, "Wait…can someone check out a Delia Jones?"

"You got it." Kim called back, typing the name into the databases, "Clean sheet, no affiliations, I'll send you on the info now."

"Thanks." Hailey called.

Kim stretched in her seat and glanced at the clock. It was almost lunch and she was hungry. She sighed to herself, she couldn't call across the bullpen to Jay and she felt restless, like she was in a silent detention in highschool.

So, Kim rolled up a piece of scarp paper from her desk and threw it at Jay.

It missed.

Then bounced on his desk before falling at his feet. But it got his attention.

She had to hold back a laugh while he looked up with an expression the mix of surprise and confusion.

"What?" He mouthed.

She pointed to the piece of paper and watched him uncurl it and read the note asking him if he wanted her to grab him a snack from the vending machine she was going to raid for lunch.

He smiled while reading it but didn't look back up at her. He returned to the work on his desk. The awkwardness hit Kim, and she cringed, he probably thought she was being childish. She returned her gaze to her monitor and stood up after a minute, turning to take a quick trip down the stairs to the vending machine when something hit the back of her head lightly.

Kim spun around quickly and couldn't see anything but a grinning Jay still sitting at his desk.

"Hey guys, can we get any address for Frank Mainer?" Adam's voice called over the line.

"Yes, I'll get it now." Jay called back leaving Kim to look around.

She smiled when she found a perfectly formed paper plane lying at her feet.

Jay's typing filled the silence in the room as she picked it up and unfolded the piece of paper.

" _You got to up your paper throwing game Burgess, partner rules._

_Can you pick me up something? Thanks."_

Jay was relaying the information on the name when Kim descended the stairs with a smile on her face.

By the time Kim got back up the stairs five minutes later, Jay was clearing up the wires and grabbing his jacket.

"We got to get suited up and roll, we've got an address to sit on." He said as Kim jumped to action, grabbing her jacket and gun before carrying the snacks with her. "Apparently, Kevin and Vanessa have brokered some deal with Frank and Delia's 'friend' and he'll be meeting them in a few hours. Adam got the guy's address."

"Anyone we know?" Kim asked, usually cases had a way of leading in circles back to the beginning, to people they had overlooked.

"George Farrell." Jay said with a sigh as they descended the stairs together.

"Oh you have got to be kidding. We had patrol raid that guy's place two weeks ago, they said he was clean." Kim said.

"I know. Apparently he was, I mean these drugs have been moving so fast, he probably didn't have them in his possession yet." Jay said, as they approached Trudy's desk. "We have to sit on him, get a tracker on his car and then be the eyes for the deal."

"Sounds like a plan." She told him, before shoving the candy and fruit bars at him, "Hey Sarge." She tried to give Trudy her brightest smile.

Trudy didn't look from her computer, "I know that voice, what do you want?"

"We need a rush on some cash for a deal?" She asked too sweetly.

"Did you get a new haircut Sarge? Looks good on you." Jay pointed out with an overly sweet smile.

"You know you're right Jay, isn't she just glowing more than usual today?" Kim added.

Trudy looked at them both with a steady gaze while they smiled at her, then scoffed, "What? Are you two auditioning for an over-excited puppy commercial or something? You're too happy." She made a face before writing something down. "Voight got in before you, he called the cash in. Take this, should be ready soon." She handed the paper to Kim before shooing them away.

"Thanks Sarge, you're…" Jay started.

"If you give me one more compliment Halstead, I will find a reason to put you on desk duty indefinitely." She cut across with a glare.

"You know I don't doubt you." Jay said, "Thanks Sarge." He said tapping the desk and let Kim lead the way to the back office.

"Thanks Sarge." Kim called as they left.

"Yeah, yeah." Trudy called back, "…just keep your partner in line."

"That's Trudy speak for keep each other safe too." Kim whispered to Jay as they went downstairs for fear that anyone on patrol would find out their Desk Sergeant was a nice person. They had to do the slog and find it out themselves.

"You know I've done overseas, worked deadly undercovers, and that woman can still instil fear right here." He said pointing to his heart dramatically.

"Poor Jay." Kim pretended to commiserate.

"You know being your partner has it's perks? The day after Voight put us together, _Trudy laughed at my joke_. You're her favourite."

"Glad to know why you stick with me." She nodded and it garnered one of those rare smiles of his that lit up his blue eyes. She wasn't wrong the other night, his eyes _were_ always that blue. She didn't quite know what to do with that information as he replied.

"And you let me keep the snacks." He held up the bars in his hand before smirking and passing her in the narrow hallway.

"Halstead you give them back." She called after him as his laugh echoed off the walls.

* * *

He shared the snacks as they sat in their car, waiting for further instructions. They had sped across the city streets to the address and located both the guy's address and his car. They relayed the information to the team who were setting up for the deal. There had been a delay with the warrant and the deal had been brought forward, so they were both holding back while being in a rush to get it done.

"I guess he doesn't want to hold onto those drugs anymore than he has to." Jay commented as Kim got the tracker out.

"Alright, the warrant's come through, you place the tracker and get out of there. Meet us at the park on 31st and Willow." Hailey's voice instructed over the radio.

"He'll be leaving soon," Jay shook his head, "We're cutting this close, the deal is in twenty minutes."

"I can get the tracker on." Kim assured him.

"This guy is dangerous." Jay said, not quite voicing his concern that she could get made. The last person that didn't pay up for the drugs got a bullet to the head. This guy might seem all clean cut but he was dirty and lethal.

"I got this Jay." She said, before getting out of the car and crossing the street.

"You're clear." Jay said across the phone she held up to her ear as a decoy.

She tried to quickly but casually walk by the guy's car and ducked down to secure the tracker under the tailgate.

"He's out of the house." Jay's voice rushed over the line and Kim froze for a second before turning the other way and pretended to tie her lace before standing up and carrying on, "Sorry hun my lace got undone, so we're still on for dinner tonight right…" Kim kept talking nonsense down the phone as she continued walking. She passed a few other pedestrians who walked past the guy's car too. She couldn't walk back to Jay while the guy was coming down the steps of his house and had seen her face fleetingly.

"You're clear, he's in the car." Jay's calm voice helped to somewhat calm the adrenaline flooding her system. Hopefully her face was just one in a sea of people he had seen that day.

She heard the car start up and pull off and quickly Jay told her to get back to the car.

"Suspect has the drugs, black bag, gym size." Jay called to the team over the radio as they sped off. They were in a race now to the deal. The tracker luckily came in handy as even if the suspect had gotten a head start, Adam could clear a path to the deal site and avoid them running into the suspect on the live road map.

All the guy had to do now was make the deal with Kevin and Vanessa who had been working it undercover as a couple and had been trying to infiltrate this specific line of distribution for weeks. This supply line of drugs was dropping bodies all over the city.

"Alright, bingo, he's parked his car around the block." Adam's voice came over the radio as Kim changed her jacket like she was changing costume, hoping to make herself even more inconspicuous. Jay and Kim got out their car parked along the street.

"Remember, nobody moves until the dope and money exchange hands." Voight's voice echoed over the line. "Halstead, Burgess, you keep a line of sight on this jerk until the deal. Upton, as soon as he leaves his car, you slash his tires if you have to, this punk isn't going anywhere if this deal goes south."

"Copy Sarge." Hailey's voice echoed in Kim's earpiece as she and Jay started walking down the street. Voight and Adam were stationed in the van inside the park while Kim and Jay had to survey from outside.

They walked past Kevin and Vanessa who were situated at the park entrance and Jay giving them a quick nod while Kim surveyed the area. "We're all good out here." She whispered into the collar of her shirt where her wire was connected.

"We're not so good back here. This guy is jumpy, he's just came back to check his car." Hailey's said.

"Has he made us?" Jay asked the team as a collective. The search warrant from two weeks ago could have made the man jumpy but Kim was worried her acting a few minutes earlier wasn't up to scratch.

"No…I don't think so…but just be extra cautious." Hailey answered.

They walked back down the street front where the suspect had just turned onto, walking towards them from down the block.

It was a quiet street, no where they could hide in plain sight.

"Dammit, he's suspicious of something, he keeps looking over his shoulder, I don't know if he'll even make the walk to the deal." Hailey's description of the event was flashing warning signs in Kim's mind.

"Do you think he made you?" Jay asked her quickly, leaning in, placing a hand on her back as if he was whispering something in her ear and pointing into the store front of a small boutique. Apparently, they were undercover as a couple, Kim noted.

"I can't be a hundred percent sure." Kim whispered back fervently, as the suspect approached so she turned her back to his direction and faced Jay instead.

"You trust me?" Jay asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Yeah." She rushed, she didn't even have to think about that.

"Kiss me." He said in something that escaped his mouth as half a question and half an instruction. They had been waiting _weeks_ to get a lead on the case, they couldn't lose this deal. She didn't think twice about it.

She leaned up and kissed him.

Jay was a quick thinker, she'd give him that, he placed his hands on either side of her face and angled her away from the suspect. He pulled her right into his own embrace and she found herself sinking into it.

His hands were gentle and the familiar scent of his cologne surrounded her and…

Work.

She was _at work_.

She jarred herself to be more alert and flung her eyes open to watch the suspect walk over to Kevin and Vanessa. The coast was clear.

Kim pulled away slightly, and Jay's eyes opened. His blue eyes met her.

They both hesitated for a split second, but there wasn't time to think.

_Work._

Kevin and Vanessa were having a conversation with the suspect. Jay and Kim went on the alert, walking down the street side by side, staking out the situation as if they were lions hunting their prey.

"Alright man, let's do this again sometime." Kevin said.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah, if you're good with this." Vanessa pointed at the bag in the suspect's hand, "Then we're good for more."

"Okay. Well you've got my number." The man sent another fervent look to his left and right. But never looked over his shoulder to where Kim and Jay were advancing.

"Yes, we do." Kevin said as the bags swapped hands.

The second that Kevin gripped the handle, Kim and Jay moved. Pouncing in sync, they drew their guns and surrounded the punk.

"Chicago PD, put your hands up!" Jay shouted as Vanessa drew her own gun.

If Kim had had time ,she would have rolled her eyes at the idiocy when the suspect tried to run. He had tried to pull his gun too.

Jay floored the guy and Kevin took his gun.

Kim and Vanessa high fived.

Another good day.

Voight instructed Kevin and Vanessa to bring the suspect back in their car, while Hailey and Adam booked the dope and loaded the van back up.

Voight beelined straight for Jay and Kim. They both stood up a little straighter. Kim knew that no matter how long she knew and worked for Voight, she would never not feel unsure under the serious look he was currently giving them.

He hooked his hands into his vest and looked at them both.

"Sarge?" Jay asked.

Voight just sighed, "Am I going to have to loop HR in with your little stunt earlier?" He looked at them both intently.

Right, Kim thought, partners weren't exactly meant to just make out on the job.

"No Sarge, we're good. It was my call, I was afraid the suspect had made Kim and it was the only way out." Jay said, before faltering and turning to Kim, "Unless you want to write up a complaint? I get it, that was uncalled for, the case was not worth putting you in an uncomfortable situation Kim. I'm the ranking officer, I'll take the heat for this, it's on me."

That was one of the things that Kim admired about Jay, he would go all guns blazing at something but would always think of others too.

"No. No Jay, we're fine. You didn't make me do anything, it was to save the case. We're good." She told him. "We're all good Sarge." She turned to tell Voight.

"Huh." They got his usual one syllable response. "Alright, meet us back at the District, we'll start work on flipping this idiot."

"You got it Sarge." Jay said.

Kim fell into step with him on the way back to their car. "Are you _sure_ it's all okay?" Jay asked.

"I'm _sure_ Jay." She told him. And she was.

It certainly wasn't a bad experience. It was acting. It was for work.

Kim just couldn't help but wonder why she had closed her eyes when his lips met hers.

"I don't make a habit of it, kissing people for work." Jay clarified as they climbed into the car.

"Good to know. But I would love to see Trudy's face if you tried that with me in front of her desk while we booked someone." Kim grinned as they drove off.

"Yeah that would be something." Jay conceded. "But we're good?"

"Yeah, and you're not getting rid of me that easily Halstead." She they pulled off. "You're stuck with me."

"Oh."

Something in his tone meant Kim's stomach drop.

"What?" She asked.

"I mean…I just thought you knew…" Jay said.

"Knew what?"

"When Voight assigned Hailey to partner up with Rojas, he told her it was to have someone impartial to assess her, you know? Keep an eye on her, see if she'd gel well into the unit. It's all a temporary thing, until Voight decides if Rojas stays or not…"

"Oh. Right. Yeah, that makes sense." What didn't make sense was why Kim felt like her throat was constricting while she tried to get her words out.

"We never changed desks or anything, I figure Voight is going to change us back when he wants."

It wasn't that Kim didn't want to be partnered with Vanessa now.

It was that she didn't want to lose Jay.

"Yeah I get it."

"That doesn't reflect on us as a team or anything." He said, looking over at her as they pulled up at a red light. "I think we're great, if I do say so myself." He said with smile.

"Yeah me too." She echoed. But her mind was racing, she didn't want the rug to be swept from under her feet again. She felt settled, comfortable, _happy_ with Jay.

As they crawled along the busy streets, she made a promise to herself.

Whatever about being a great team, Kim would try her best to make them the _best team_. Solid enough to convince everyone that they shouldn't be broken up.


	6. Chapter 6

Kim's half panicked thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing.

Jay turned down the radio, one of their joint favourite stations was playing a good selection of songs, while she picked up.

"Is everything okay Nicole?" Kim practically barked down the phone as she held it up to her ear. She couldn't help it; panic was still her first instinct whenever her sister rang her. She could see Jay tense beside her. He went on alert too.

"Everything is fine Kim." Nicole answered, "But I have a huge favour to ask..."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Are you free for the afternoon?"

"Nicole, I'm working today" Kim answered, "What is it?"

"No, it's fine…" Her sister hesitated.

"Nicole, what is it? Let me see what I can do."

"Zoe's school just called, she's been sick and wants to come home. Usually I'd ask Mrs Henderson next door to take her, but she's out of town visiting family. I'd leave work but I have this meeting in half an hour…"

Kim had sent her sister a good luck text that morning. Nicole had been working on a big presentation for weeks now, she was up for a promotion, she couldn't miss it this meeting.

"Okay…okay…look I can stop by the school and pick Zoe up and bring her home. I'll…I'll work out the hours with Voight later. It's fine. I'll take care of it, you just go kick ass with that presentation, you hear?"

"Thank you, Kim, I owe you." Nicole said earnestly.

"No, you don't." Kim waved away such a notion, they were sisters. They were always there for each other. "I'll see you later."

"Need a detour?" Jay asked as she put her phone down.

"No, we can go back to the district and I'll get my car and then go get Zoe." Kim said, she didn't want to start throwing personal pit-stops into their partnership and give Voight an excuse to break them up.

"With this traffic? No way, school would be over by then." Jay argued lightly, "Ring in the detour with Voight and we'll go straight to get Zoe and bring her back to the District for you to get your car. It's family, Voight gets it." He reassured her.

"Really? That would be great." She admitted.

She quickly put in the address of Zoe's school and Jay changed his route. Kim rang in that they were making a quick personal detour. They were closer to the school Kim had thought. Jay pulled up and let Kim out before driving on down the street to find a parking space.

Kim entered the school and found her niece looking pale and tired in the front office. She signed her niece out and carried her bag for her.

"Thanks for coming to get me Aunt Kim." Zoe said, as Kim put an arm around the girl's shoulder and led her out of the building.

"Hey, anything for my favourite niece." Kim said, squeezing Zoe's shoulder.

It cajoled a small laugh from the young girl, "I'm your _only_ niece."

"Eh, specifics." Kim giggled along.

Kim looked around from the gates and saw Jay standing on the sidewalk down the street. He put his hand up in a wave to her, letting her know where he was.

"There's Jay, he's parked down the street, we're going to have to head back to the district so I can get my stuff okay? And then we'll get you home."

"That's _Jay_? Like from the detective card?" Zoe perked up a little. Nicole had mentioned that Zoe kept Jay's card in her schoolbag all the time now, right next to Kim's, in case of emergency.

Kim looked ahead at Jay, who was standing in the sunshine complete with sunglasses and his detective badge slung around his neck.

Jay, who made her nearly pause mid-step, had he always been this handsome?

She scoffed at herself and her runaway thoughts. Of course, he was handsome. She had spent years working with him. She wasn't blind, objectively he was a _very_ handsome man. And it had made her take a second look on occasion, but it never mattered. It was _Jay_.

"Yeah, that's my Jay."

"Your Jay?" Zoe asked, clearly thrown by the off-hand comment and Kim nearly blushed at her mixed-up explanation.

"No, I meant that's my partner, Jay. He's my partner. At work. Jay." She clarified, suddenly battling the onslaught of thoughts tied to just how tenderly his hands had caressed her face mere minutes ago.

"Hey you two." Jay said as they approached. "Nice to meet you Zoe, sorry you're not feeling well."

"Thanks." Zoe mumbled and practically sank into Kim's side. Her niece could be shy when she met someone for the first time.

"I'm parked around the corner." He told Kim and beckoned with his hand.

"Cool. Thanks." She smiled at him over Zoe's head as they walked to the car.

"So, what's up Hun?" Kim asked as she hopped into the backseat beside Zoe and Jay started the car up.

"I was sick in the bathrooms and now my tummy feels bad and I'm _so_ warm." The young girl moaned. Kim's heart went out for her, she did look miserable. "You don't have to sit back here with me."

"Are you kidding? You're much more fun to sit beside than Jay." Kim mocked.

"I take offense to that." Jay laughed as he put on his belt. "I'm all for it, means I get the radio to myself." Jay smiled, looking back at the pair.

"No way. Zoe's our VIP, she gets to pick the station." Kim teased.

"I'm okay." Zoe tried to argue quietly.

"It's a good idea Zoe, it saves the two of us from fighting over the station all the way back to the District." Jay lied just to put a smile on the girl's face. Jay and Kim had already agreed on a rotation of stations they both loved.

Zoe offered up a radio station and Jay turned it over.

"Thank you." Zoe said quietly.

"Your welcome, we'll get you home as quick as we can, okay?" Jay said, and with a nod from Zoe, he pulled off.

They rolled into the District backlot and Kim all but jumped out of the car to go and get her things. "I won't be long Sweetheart," She promised, pressing a kiss to the side of Zoe's head.

"Okay." Zoe sighed.

"We'll be fine." Jay promised Kim before she made a dash for the building.

"Hey Sarge, Jay and Zoe are in the car outside, if they come in or need me or anything, I'm just sorting things out upstairs and…" Kim rushed at Trudy.

"I'll page you." Trudy interrupted, "Is the kid okay?"

"She was sick today in school. I'm bringing her home." Kim made a face at the poor girl's bad day and ascended the stairs. "Thanks Sarge!" She called down as she got through the gate.

Kim shut off her computer and divided the files on her desk between Kevin and Adam who volunteered to take them. She had to wait for Voight to finish interrogating the suspect to ask if she could leave.

Technically she could just take off but she didn't want the chance of any marks against her name or Jay's while they were still partners together.

Time seemed to drag as she waited, she even had time to help Vanessa sort through the audio files from earlier. The minutes crept slowly by and she felt terrible for Zoe who was feeling sick and for putting her partner, who she was now trying to keep, through babysitting duty.

When Voight came out, she practically ran into him, "Sarge, I'm really sorry but can I take off early today? Zoe's sick and I have to take her home and Nicole is stuck in work and it won't happen again and I'll make up the hours and…"

"Burgess." He interrupted her rambling story. "Go, take a few days if you need to. It's family."

"Right. Thank you Sarge." She said earnestly.

"Anytime. You know that, right?" He clarified.

She did. She really did. That was one of the reasons she loved working in Intelligence, Voight made sure the team was family and their respective families came first.

But now she was clinging to her new partner she was second guessing all her decisions.

"Yes." She answered.

He waved her off as he relayed the new information from his interrogation to the team as she grabbed her bag and car keys. She took the shortcut out the back door and towards Jay's car.

It was empty.

Kim checked her phone. No calls or texts.

She cringed, hoping that Zoe wasn't getting sick and Jay was forced to deal with it. Kim retraced her steps back into the building, checked the bathrooms which were empty of her niece and partner and came out behind Trudy's desk. "Sarge, have you seen Jay and Zoe?"

"If I couldn't see them, I'd certainly hear them." The Desk Sargent deadpanned, "They're in there, she hasn't stopped laughing since they came in." She nodded toward the office by the door. Kim looked over through the door that was ajar at Zoe who was giggling along to whatever Jay was saying.

Zoe's back was to her, but Jay was in her line of sight. He must have felt someone looking at him and looked up and caught Kim's eye and winked.

Things were okay. Zoe was okay.

Kim nearly didn't want to break up their little bonding fest. It was too cute.

That's what she had always thought having a partner would be like, being part of her family.

She and Kevin had had that, and Antonio had talked about his partnership with Jules Willhite and how even after she had been killed, he still kept in contact with her husband and kids. They were still family.

"Hey you two." She said, approaching the open door. Zoe looked around in her seat, she was still pale but she was smiling…and holding an ice-pop.

"Hi Aunt Kim." Her niece certainly sounded perkier than before. Kim placed a hand on the girl's forehead, she didn't feel as overly warm as before either.

"Oh I hope you don't mind, Zoe wanted some air from the car and the store around the corner had ice-creams and it was one of my Mom's remedy's, ice-pops to settle a sick stomach and cool you down." Jay explained.

"I'm feeling better." Zoe nodded along.

"I can see that Honey." Kim reassured her. "Thank you, Jay." She said sincerely to her partner, it was more than he had had to do.

"It's no problem." He told her.

"You read to go kid?" Kim asked, resting a hand on Zoe's hair. Zoe nodded, somewhat sadly. "C'mon let's get you home. What do you say to Jay?" Kim prompted.

"Thank you, Jay." Zoe said.

"Anytime kid." Jay smiled before holding out his hand. Kim just watched with amusement while Zoe and Jay performed what could only be described as a secret handshake. "Feel better. See you Kim." He smiled as Kim led her niece out.

"Wait, what's your secret handshake?" The young girl asked the two. "Jay said every officer has a secret handshake, Trudy made one up for me and her too."

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes." Jay clarified, "Seems like Sergeant Platt likes all your family." Jay told Kim with a grin before she looked over towards Trudy who was now barking orders at some patrol officers. The same woman who would take time out for a young girl.

"But me and Kim do more of a bargaining thing." Jay explained to Zoe, "I give her diamonds, she throws paper at me." He shrugged one shoulder.

Kim just threw her head back in a laugh, "Yeah that's us." She grinned at Jay who held her gaze long enough for Zoe to ask if they could go home.

Kim got Zoe home, checked the girl's temperature, gave her some light food and let her doze on the sofa until her Mom came home. Kim stayed for dinner and got to hear how well Nicole's meeting went. Zoe, by then, was tired after her day and went to have a shower and go to bed.

"Zoe has declared that she wants to become a cop." Nicole said as she entered the living room, after staying with her daughter until she fell to sleep for the night.

"Oh really?" Kim asked from where she was perched on the sofa.

"Yeah something about Jay Halstead?"

"You had to hear that too? All I got off her on the way home was how awesome Jay is. I think your daughter has a new crush." Kim smiled.

"Well would her Aunt happen to feel the same way?" Nicole rose her eyebrows.

"Not this again." Kim said, "It's _Jay_. That's not a thing. He's an amazing partner, that's all." Kim conveniently left out the part of him being a good kisser, but she figured her sister really didn't need to know that.

"Well he seems to think you're amazing too." Nicole countered, "Zoe doesn't want to be a cop because of Jay, it's because of you. He told her that you are one of the best cops he's ever worked with and now Zoe wants to be as awesome as you."

"Oh." Kim said but she didn't have time to bask in the compliment because her phone started ringing.

"Hey Jay." She said as she answered her phone. Kim rolled her eyes at her sister who was acting her own daughters age and making a heart shape with her hands at Kim talking to Jay. She swatted her sister with her hand and walked into the kitchen for some privacy.

"Hey Kim. I was just checking in, I'm on my way home, how's Zoe?"

"She's just gone to sleep, said she didn't feel sick anymore and Nicole gave her something for the slight fever, she'll be okay, it's probably a twenty-four-hour thing."

"I don't mean to overstep or anything, but if you, any of you, ever need a doctor or anything, Will is there if you need him."

"Jay…" Kim found herself smiling and calming down after her hectic day under his caring nature.

"Or if Zoe is still sick tomorrow, we can take a trip to Med after work."

Kim couldn't help but think that Jay Halstead would be an amazing dad. He had a big heart and would look out for his kids like no one else.

"Thank you, Jay. I appreciate it. But I'm sure she'll be fine." She said.

"Well I'm glad to hear it, she's a great kid."

The silence between them that hung for a split second had her head trapesing back to the hesitation that sat between the after they had kissed just earlier that day.

"Yeah." Kim said over eagerly, loud enough to interrupt her own train of thought, "So I better go. But thanks Jay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Kim."

Zoe may have found out how awesome Jay Halstead was that day, but Kim knew that it was nothing compared to her own admiration for the detective that just kept growing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pure fluff this chapter, I'll be honest that I'm suddenly channeling my love for Jay through Zoe :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim has a bad day...

Kim only had enough energy to _look_ at the beer in front of her.

She was sat at the counter in Molly's, she couldn't really remember getting there. It was all a blur since the gunshots, really. Apparently, she had hoped that the loud sounds of the busy bar would drown out the screams, that the scents of cologne and perfume of the patrons would mask the overwhelming smell of gunshot residue and smoke that haunted her, but no such luck.

Kim may as well have been still at the site from earlier.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kim jumped at the question so close to her and looked up to see Herrmann leaning on the counter in front of her.

Kim mustered a fake smile from somewhere inside her. "I'm fine Herrmann." She lied, while really she felt like her very core was rotting away with guilt and misery.

He didn't look convinced but left her to it.

It, being zoning out and trying to block out the day.

She couldn't even reach for her beer so her plan wasn't working very well.

Instead, she played with the small napkin that had come with her beer. Alternating between folding and unfolding it, giving her something to focus on.

When someone in the bar shouted a little too loud, Kim found herself flinching and then ripping the napkin into shreds while her hands trembled from the flashbacks.

"Burgess, that is not how you up your paper throwing game." Jay appeared on the seat next to her. She didn't jump, his voice was calm and steady, tethering her to reality instead of losing herself down the black hole of the case earlier.

"Really?" She choked out.

"Yeah." He said, and she managed to watch as he took his own napkin and folded it into a perfect little plane again. "Will, he can sing and play guitar, but this is my one party trick." He chuckled.

He didn't seem to mind that she didn't, _couldn't_ , reply.

"I'm not going to ask you if you're okay. None of us are. That was…" He sighed, "That was one of the bad ones, wasn't it?"

The paper plane he had laid at her hands became blurry through the tears in her eyes. She pursed her lips and shut her eyes for a second to try and take a steady breath to stop her from crying right in the middle of the bar.

It was one of the worst cases.

Her C.I.

The innocent bystanders. The mother, the little girl, the grandfather.

Gunfire. Screams. Blood.

Kim's hands shaking as she held her gun and made decision after decision that she desperately ached not to have to make.

"I'm fine." She said, finding the empty words somewhere and pushing them through her lips.

If she had any chance of hoping to convince Jay to stick with her, the last thing she needed to do was breakdown in front of him.

He hummed in feign agreement, "I use that line a lot." He took a sip from his beer.

He didn't push any further conversation, he just sat by her side. His presence at her side felt like an anchor. A steady force she could cling to in the storm.

Time seemed hard to track while her mind kept fleeting back and forth between the case earlier and her present location.

"You don't have to stay here." She managed to argue some time later, finding the energy to turn the beer in her hands in front of her.

"I know." He responded.

Amidst the fogginess of her mind, Kim was sure she could feel a headache coming on. She didn't want to be a difficult partner.

"There you are Kim, are you okay?" Adam's sudden presence at her other side burst their quiet little bubble.

Just like clockwork. Months ago, before Blair, she would have grabbed her coat and gone home with Adam to forget about the day. But she wasn't that person anymore.

They still cared about each other but she couldn't and wouldn't go there with him again.

"Hey man." Jay butted himself into the conversation with steel in his voice. If Kim's head wasn't such a mess, she would almost think it was funny. Was Jay being protective?

Somewhere deep down in the storm that was raging inside her, that one thought crackled like a sparkler. Fleeting but it was there.

"Hey Jay, what's up?" Adam responded while Kim stayed mute.

"Crap day huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Adam had just placed a hand on her arm when Jay put down his beer and checked his watch, "Hey, we should be going right? Platt said 11.30?" Jay said as he nudged his hand against Kim's as if to distract from the physical contact with Adam. He got up and put money on the counter for Herrmann and shrugged on his jacket.

Kim looked up at Jay's poker face, he was trying not to give anything away. "Right." She echoed, hopping down off her own stool and extracting her arm from Adam's touch. "'Night Adam." She said before following her partner towards the exit.

Even getting through the crowd was a struggle, every time someone nudge against her, her chest would constrict and the world would teeter in front of her. So, she tried to keep her eyes on Jay's back.

The fresh air hit her like a freight train as she followed Jay outside.

"Platt never mentioned anything. What was that about?"

"Extraction." Jay said as if it were a simple concept she couldn't grasp.

"From Adam?" She stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets, feeling the need to be defensive.

"Yeah, you said you wanted me to get you home from Molly's after a bad call…"

"I didn't mean it. I can get home fine Jay. And I certainly don't go home with Adam anymore. I don't like him like that, at all, anymore." Her voice was as sharp as the jagged glass that had just missed her earlier in the day. Kim knew why she trying to attack him with her words, she didn't want him to think less of her and she also wanted to get rid of him before she fell apart.

She was his partner. She should be strong and in control. She didn't want to chase him away by falling apart after a bad day.

"Okay, I'm sorry Kim. I was just trying to help." He responded.

"I don't need your help Jay, I just want to go home." She chewed on her bottom lip to focus on something else besides the tears that threatened to fall. She definitely had a headache now.

"Okay, well let me call you a cab."

"I can call my own cab." She protested. She didn't want to be a burden. She couldn't be a burden if she wanted to keep him.

And she wanted to keep him. She wasn't entirely sure about her reasons anymore, they didn't feel entirely professional, standing on a dark street in Chicago wanting to see the light in his blue eyes again and perhaps feel his arms around her.

She busied herself with her phone while her head ached and her heart hurt from the day because she clearly wasn't thinking right. This was _Jay_.

He just stood with her in silence until her cab arrived. She didn't realise he was following her until she sat down in the backseat and he was suddenly beside her.

"What are you doing?" She shot at him.

"Making sure you get home okay." He said with equal stubbornness as he set his jaw.

"I'm _fine_." She reiterated her lie.

"And stubborn." Jay chipped in, leaning his head back against the headrest. He looked tired and a shadow of stubble had appeared on his jaw line.

She scoffed, "Says you."

"Yes, I do." He said with his eyes closing lightly. "When it comes to stubbornness, you've met your match Burgess." He had the audacity to smirk to himself.

"You're an idiot." She shook her head, the black cloud that had hung over her all day was starting to crackling with thunder. Along with everything else, she was now in a bad mood.

"Well that's no way to treat your partner." He turned his head to face her with eyes open and a smile on his face. A peace offering.

It _was_ no way to treat the very guy who was just trying to help her.

She sighed, "I'm…I'm sorry Jay…"

"No." Jay cut across her, "Don't be." He shook his head, almost beseeching her with his eyes. "Days like these…I got your back."

Those eyes of his were like a patch of fine bright blue calm sky in the midst of the grey storm threatening to suffocate her.

The cab pulled up at the door of her building. "This is me. Thank you, Jay." She told him. She hesitated opening the door because the reality was nearly worse than the haunting images playing on repeat in front of her eyes. She was going to be alone.

She didn't want to go back to her empty apartment.

She didn't want to be alone.

"See you next shift?" She said, mustering a facial expression she hoped was in the vicinity of a smile.

"Sure thing." Jay nodded, "Kim are you sure you're okay right now?" He asked softly.

Kim managed to nod her head. "See you." She forced her heavy bones to move and get out of the car. She made the walk to her building and even inside the door. She looked back, watching the cab leave with Jay in it.

She wasn't fine at all.

But she couldn't push her problems on him. It was better this way.

She took the stairs up to her floor. Having to put one foot in front of the other gave her something to focus on instead of letting her mind wander back to her day.

After three times of trying to get her key in the lock through blurry tears that had started falling, Kim let herself into her one bedroom apartment. The view out the windows along her living area usually mesmerized her, but all it did tonight was remind her of the horror that could happen on the streets below.

She had barely taken off her jacket and put her keys down before the damn burst. Everything came flashing back to her and she didn't have to keep up a façade anymore. She broke apart at the seams.

All she could do was grip her middle to try and hold herself together as the sobs wracked her body.

Three loud knocks on her door reverberated loud enough to sound over the memories of gunshots echoing through her head while she cried.

She turned to look at it, not being able to gather herself enough to shout and ask who was there.

Three more knocks. Heavy. Insistent.

"Kim?"

Jay.

No. He couldn't see her like this. She rubbed hopelessly at her eyes, trying to put herself back together in the few short steps to the door because even in her fragile state she could hear echoes of his work voice at the door. A hard voice he used before he broke down a door.

She fumbled with the inside lock and tried to only open the door far enough for him to see she was in one piece but closed enough that she could close it and retreat back inside.

"Jay, what's wrong?" She asked through the stifled cries, her eyes burning.

He seemed to deflate in the hallway as soon as he landed eyes on her. "The fact that you're not fine. And that's okay." He placed his hand on her door, mirroring her own actions at his door. "How can I help? Can I…can I give you a hug?"

Between the slight break in his normally confident voice and the hesitation in the way he held out his hands, she gave up keeping up her defences. After the day from hell, she really did a friend. She really needed someone to be there.

And she found herself being comforted in the fact that that someone was Jay.

She let her death grip on the door go and managed to nod as she fell apart and he wasted no time in moving towards her at her consent. "Hey, c'mhere." He said softly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him. Holding her together and giving her someone to hold onto even if she felt like she was losing herself.

Kim hated crying. She hated displaying weakness.

It was tough enough to prove her worth as a female cop. The last thing she wanted to do was fall hysterically at Jay. But she was at least comforted in the fact that he didn't mind catching her.

He held her to him in a way that was the perfect fit and rubbed her back with one his hands and rested his head against hers. The sobs that wracked her entire being didn't seem so bad now that he was here.

"It's going to be okay. I promise. We'll get through this. I promise." He whispered affirmations to her while she cried. Cried for the victims. For the terror she had felt. For the guilt. For the pain.

Time lost it's meaning again as she found herself gripping the back of his jacket and leaning against his shoulder. She didn't notice it but he had maneuvered them inside her apartment and closed the door behind him, giving her privacy.

She didn't know how long it was until the tears stopped flowing. Until she had regained enough composure to realise the sweet man was still holding her steady.

"I'm sorry. Jay. I'm sorry. You don't have to…" She extracted herself from his hold, feeling bare and cold without him.

"Kim," He said, shifting to look in her eyes. "I know I don't _have_ to do anything. But I want to."

Her bones felt tired now. Her headache was still pounding. But she wasn't alone anymore.

"Have you eaten all day? Me and Kev grabbed dinner but you weren't around. I can order something?" He asked.

"Oh, no, it's fine…" She started to protest, not wanting to push their partnership far enough to send him running.

"Well I'm hungry again so I'll order something. Pizza sound good?" He was already consulting his phone. He shrugged self-consciously as she looked at him, "Food always helps me."

"That would be great then. Thank you." Her voice was hoarse from crying and she pushed her hair behind her ears, trying to straighten herself up.

He tapped at his phone and looked back at her and then over her shoulder to her personal view of Chicago. "Nice view." He nodded.

She made a humming sound, and walked into the seating area. The sofa was facing the view because Zoe had made her buy a sofa bed for sleepovers and then she got a cool view of the city with it's position. "Eh…make yourself at home." She told her partner.

He followed suit and sat down on the sofa with her. He didn't push conversation, which she appreciated. They just sat in companionable silence.

"I hate this feeling. Being _so_ tired, but not being able to think, my mind is just racing and everything just keeps replaying in my head and…" She sighed, rambling on, not knowing if her words were even comprehensible but he sat there, giving her his full attention. Until the pizza arrived half an hour later he sat there listening to her trying make coherent sense of what she was going through.

It was stupid, but she very nearly kept looking for the rest of the team to appear. In her four years of working with Jay, she had never hung out with him along. But so much had changed in just a few weeks. He looked quite at home on her sofa, handing pizza to her.

At first she hesitated, she didn't know if her stomach could take it but he just left a slice on a plate for her. He must have seen her flinching every time she looked at the glass wall into Chicago and declared that if they were going to eat pizza after a rough day, they needed to watch some trash tv.

She turned on her TV in the corner and with the distraction of a bad sitcom that Jay had lots of sarcastic comments about she was able to distract herself from her own thoughts long enough to eat.

She even found herself laughing quietly at a really bad joke Jay made about the scenes playing out in front of them.

They finished off the pizza in record time and he cleaned up while she excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she got back, he was back on her sofa.

She sat back down beside him and watched the show until the next thing she knew she was on the floor.

"Woah. Woah. Kim? You're okay. You're safe. You're at home. Kim?"

Her heart was hammering and her ears were ringing from gunshots.

But there was no gunshots, she didn't need to duck, she was at home.

And Jay was kneeling on the floor beside her. "I think you nodded off for a few seconds there, then those advertisements were loud and you jumped awake." Jay explained calmly. "Kim?"

"Yeah." She grappled to get her breath back. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine. Sorry." She got up onto shaking legs while Jay hovered beside her, not touching her but close enough to catch her if she fell again.

"You good?"

"I'm good." She confirmed as she regained her senses.

They settled back on the sofa but she was wide awake now. But it was so late and she was so tired.

Jay would probably be going home now.

She found herself not wanting him to go.

The next episode of the show started and they watched another while, or he watched and she stared at the screen blankly.

She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling herself slipping back into a dark place at the thoughts of being alone again.

Jay yawned and rubbed at his eyes, "Kim, would you mind if I crashed here tonight? This sofa is calling my name right now. And I don't really want to trek across the city." He told her with what she could only describe as puppy dog eyes.

How could she say no? Besides, she didn't want to say no. She was rather relieved that he was staying.

"Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'll get you some blankets. Be warned they are pink, Zoe chose them for her sleepovers. You can actually pull that out into a sofa bed." She told him before going to her room and rooting in her closet. Her shaking hands calmed at the thought of having him near.

The scene that greeted her when she to back to the living room seemed intimate. It was stupid for such a thought to come to the forefront of her mind when so much else was clattering around up there, but Jay was standing there in his bare feet with the bed laid out, looking out her windows to the city.

"Blankets." She announced herself as she approached the sofa bed.

"Thanks Kim." He said as he turned around. He looked more open than usual, like the guard he kept up at work was down. With his tired eyes and bare feet.

She shook her head to shake away his thanks, "No, thank you Jay." She ignored the fact that her hand brushed his when he took the blankets.

He gave her a small smile.

"Well…I'll get some sleep…" He nodded to the blankets and then at the makeshift bed. "Goodnight Kim."

"Goodnight Jay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I don't usually write angst but I hope you enjoyed this.


	8. Chapter 8

The loud noise made Kim dive for the ground.

Her eyes flung open, she was already lying down, what the hell…

Her frantic heartbeat was echoing in her ears as she surveyed her surroundings. She was in her room, she was in her bed. She had been asleep.

It was a bad dream. She wasn't in action.

Kim laid still, letting the adrenaline of thinking she had heard gunshots run it's course. After her heart had stopped trying to escape from her chest, she forced herself to sit up. Her body ached in protest at the movement after the previous day's exertion as Kim struggled to calm her breathing.

She rubbed at her tired eyes with her hands and finally realised her alarm clock was still ringing.

Kim groaned and reached over to hit it and turn it off, it was only 6am.

She was pretty sure it was her day off. And of course, she had forgotten to turn off her alarm.

Considering there was no way she was going to get back to sleep after the nightmare she had just had, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to clear her mind of all the real memories that were playing on repeat everything she blinked.

Her body moved of it's own accord when a noise came from beyond her bedroom door.

There was someone in her apartment. She reached for her gun in her bedside locker on instinct and approached her door like she would a crime scene.

Countless explanations flooded her mind. It could be reckless robbers, a revenge attack from a case in work, maybe something related to the case from the day before.

Was that whistling she heard?

And then Kim remembered.

Jay was in her apartment.

He had stayed over.

Kim ignored the fleeting feeling of…she couldn't quite distinguish what it was. Happiness? Interest? Nerves?

She shook her head of such thoughts and put her gun back. Before she could start running through yesterday's case again in heart breaking detail pulled a robe on over her pyjamas and went to investigate the noise.

She found Jay in the kitchen, whistling a tune quietly to himself and filling a glass of water.

That _should_ have been the only thing she noted about the entire ordeal.

But she somehow couldn't just gloss over the fact that he was shirtless while doing so.

"Sorry, did my alarm wake you?" She asked with a wince of apology as she made her way across the large room and into the kitchen area. It took a surprising amount of effort to keep her eyes on his and not letting them wander down to his very shirtless torso.

Jay looked up from the tap as he turned it off. "It's okay." He shrugged. His voice was raspy with sleep. "Sorry I tried not to root around, I just wanted some water."

"No, of course." She waved away his worry. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, you?" He asked before taking a drink.

She shrugged, "Yeah, as good as I could hope for." She swallowed, "Thanks again, for last night."

"Anytime Kim." She found herself having to look away from the intensity of his gaze.

Jay went about cleaning his glass and Kim mooched around to his side of the counter, found her dishtowel and wordlessly took the glass from him and dried it off.

He didn't move away from her, but rested his hip against the counter. "Do you always get up at 6am on a day off?" He asked with a small smile.

"Yes." She deadpanned but couldn't stop herself from smiling, "No way, are you kidding? Sleep's a luxury."

"I hear that." He grinned.

"Oh you can totally go back to sleep if you want." She moved her arm to gesture towards his makeshift bed and nearly knocked her arm off his, she didn't realise they had been standing so close.

"Are you going back to sleep?" He asked, tilting his head slightly to meet her eyes again.

Kim sighed, "I don't think I'll be able to." She admitted.

"Then I'm fine." He shrugged.

"Jay!" She implored.

"Kim!" He imitated her.

"You are so stubborn." She mumbled at him with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Did my stubborn partner just call _me_ stubborn?" He retorted.

She just laughed at the easy rapport they had somehow developed amidst the struggles of working together in their stressful jobs

"I don't think I have much in for breakfast though, today was shopping day." She apologised.

"We can go to the diner, they open early."

"At six am?"

"They start preparing for the day then, and they let me in." He grinned like a kid who snuck cookies from the cookie jar.

"Okay, sounds good then." She admitted, as her stomach grumbled at the thought of the food from the diner. "I'll go get ready." She excused herself from the room and went about getting dressed.

When she had gotten ready and came back out she found Jay had put the sofa bed back together and had folded the blankets in a neat pile.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Let's go." She smiled.

As they got out of their cab and headed around to the diner, while Kim was trying to not constantly scan the area for potential threats, Kim broached the subject of the previous evening.

"Seriously, Jay, thanks for everything last night. I owe you one."

Jay just shrugged, "It's what I'm here for."

"Jay I'm serious."

"You don't owe me anything." He remained adamant, "But I won't say no to a free drink at Molly's."

"I owe you more than one beer." Kim rolled her eyes to herself. She wanted to keep him as a partner. She needed to prove that she appreciated his help and pull her own weight when needed.

"A new car wouldn't go amiss either." He tried to jokingly spar back but she didn't give him a response and he seemed to notice her sombre mood and knocked his shoulder against hers. "I'll keep it in mind Kim. If I think of anything I'll let you know."

"Good." Kim smiled.

Just when she thought things were going okay a car alarm went off across the street and Kim jumped before she even realise what she was doing. She nearly fell against Jay in fright and then drew herself to full height, had her hand on her phone and the other ghosting over a gun that wasn't on her belt.

"Woah, Kim. It's alright." Jay's voice said calmly from behind her. He placed his hands on her arms from where she had blocked him from the potential danger.

"S…Sorry." She stammered, as she watched a mother and daughter unlock the car whose alarm had gone off. There was no danger. It wasn't yesterday. The team wasn't in danger.

"Don't be. It's all good." Jay's reassuring tone helped her heart calm down from the spike in pace.

She turned to face him, even with his hands still placed delicately on her arms and looked up at his blue eyes. Her mind, instead of reeling off into bad flashbacks, winded its way back to a better memory. To when she had been this close to him on a street and they had kissed.

The realisation that she was thinking such treacherous thoughts shook her alert and she cleared her throat and jumped a good foot away from him.

"I'm good. I'm good." She told him, "We better get that breakfast huh?" She didn't mean to sound so breathless.

Hopefully he would assume it was from shock and not from the fact that for half a second she had nearly considered kissing him again.

"Sure. Follow me." Jay said, after he had scanned the area himself and looked at Kim again to make sure she was okay.

Jay led Kim around to the back of the diner where he knocked on the kitchen door and they were greeted an elderly man, Joe, who Kim found out was the owner and still involved in his family business.

"Look at this Jay Halstead, scrounging for early food. It's been too long kiddo. Come on in." Joe laughed as he hugged Jay. "and he brings a pretty lady with him, lovely to meet you." He shook Kim's hand with enthusiasm.

"This is Kim…" Jay said but Joe interrupted him before he could further explain who she was.

"Kim! Wonderful! Come on this way kids." Jay shrugged at Kim as they went following Joe who was leading them into the eating area that was still dark. He turned on a few lights and Kim and Jay took down the chairs from one of the tables and sat down.

"Thanks for this Joe." Jay said.

"Anytime, you know that kid." Joe told him. "So, there's no point in menus is there, you want one of your Halstead breakfast specials?"

"Once you don't tell Will I've been eating here without him." Jay grinned.

Joe laughed with a nod, "Speaking of that brother of yours, I'll see him at the party tonight right?"

Kim watched Jay's face and saw him hesitate for a split second. "…Yeah, definitely."

Kim managed to keep a straight face as Joe stared Jay down before turning to Kim, "Gone to the rangers and joined the police, this kid has got some ego now, thinks he can hide things from me." He grinned. "I knew you when you were a scrawny kid." He told Jay, "Let me know when you're calling by next and I'll root out the kid pictures." He said as a side note to Kim. "What is it you're not telling me?"

Kim couldn't help but smile as she watched cool and confident Jay Halstead squirm under the man's question before breaking. "I was thinking of giving it a skip tonight."

"But it's the old gang's annual get together!" Joe protested. "Our old street was filled with old families and they had families and we all like to get together every year, have a good old catch up." Joe explained to Kim. "All your cousins are coming, my son is flying in from L.A., we're having a cake for Old Seán Casey for his ninetieth birthday, why on earth would you not be coming along?"

Jay shrugged, "Dad's not there anymore and the last year everyone was wondering where Erin was considering the year before that Will let the cat out of the bag about me going to propose to her. I was going to give this one a miss."

Joe just shook his head, "Talk some sense into him for me Love, would you?" He asked Kim before retreating to the kitchen.

"Family gathering eh?" Kim asked tentatively.

"Worse, family and like whole neighbourhood gathering." Jay clarified. "I don't know if I want to put up with a night of dealing with nosy inquiries into my life."

"When I left my job in a flight attendant and went to the academy, I didn't go home until I had a few months of the job under my belt." Kim chipped in, "I did not want to deal with the endless questions of what I was doing with my life and why I had left my ex-boyfriend. But then Nicole came with me for that first visit for my Mom's birthday and it wasn't so bad." She shrugged.

"Really?" Jay asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Well okay, I drank a lot and Nicole played buffer the entire evening, you know rescuing me from awful conversations and distracting people. But it made my Mom happy so." Kim shrugged. "Family, friends, community…what would we do without them."

Jay seemed to consider her words while he played with the salt and pepper shakers.

Kim was surprised with the swift service when Joe came back with their food so quickly.

"Everyone would love to see you tonight." Joe told Jay as he came over with their food. "So, you convince him yet?" He asked Kim as he placed their loaded plates down.

She snuck a glance at Jay, who was already looking at her. She would blame the sudden blush on her cheeks on the hot food in front of her.

"She's working on it." Jay replied. "Thanks Joe."

"Anytime Kid." Joe gave Jay a friendly pat on the shoulder, "And take advice from my fifty years of marriage, the woman is always right." He laughed before telling them to enjoy their meal and let the two alone again.

Kim dove into her food to try and ignore the fact that the word marriage was being floated around between them.

Jay sighed, "Joe gets to me. Now I just feel guilty. The whole place were great to me and Will after Mom died and when I got back after tour and after Dad…" Jay rang a frustrated hand through his hair. "And I don't _not_ like everyone…it's just…"

"You need a Nicole?" Kim offered.

"Yeah." Jay admitted.

Kim nodded, going back to her food. She was sure he had plenty of people he could ask. He would be fine.

"Kim?" Jay spoke her name gently and she looked up at him.

"Yeah?" For some ridiculous reason, she found herself reaching for her napkin in case she had something on her face. She didn't want to think about the reasons she suddenly wanted to look good when she was with him.

A smile started to play on his lips, "How would you feel about giving up your free night off?" The sweet hesitation in his voice made the decision for her, he was serious and he wanted her to say yes.

She pretended to ponder the question, "Do I get more diamonds because of this?"

His laughter lit up his eyes, "Of course."

"Well I do owe you." She told him, "And any option that is getting out of my apartment and not spending the night alone with my thoughts sounds perfect. Yes, I'll definitely go."

"Really?"

"Yeah of course, what are partners for?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay with this chapter, life got in the way, hope you enjoyed this!


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, so which one?" Kim asked as she held up two dresses for her sister to judge over the screen.

"What's this for? You didn't say." Nicole said as she worked at her kitchen counter, prepping dinner.

Kim had remained allusive on the specific facts because she knew just how her sister was going to react. Kim cleared her throat, "It's a get-together thing, with Jay."

"Get together?" Kim watched her phone screen to see her sister's head pop up at the words and narrow her eyes.

Kim huffed, "It's a family, neighbourly thing he has to go to."

"And you're his plus one?"

"No, I'm his _buffer_." Kim explained. "It's nothing. Don't go reading into this." She warned.

"So then why are you debating so much over your outfit?"

Damn, Kim cursed herself, she was, wasn't she?

"Forget I asked. It's nothing. I'll just go with the blue one." Kim replied in a rush to quell any further questions from her sister and her own mind.

"The blue one is a good choice." Nicole said, just as Kim heard Zoe call for her Mom in the background. "I've got to go. Have a good time. Tell Jay I said hi."

With that, the screen went blank and Kim looked at the blue dress in her hand for far too long. She was overthinking this whole night.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she went about getting ready.

She was a buffer. That was all.

Kim just chose to ignore the fact that she sprayed on her best perfume before the doorbell rang an hour later.

"Wow. You look great Kim." Kim smiled as she opened the door for Jay, not entirely sure how to respond to such a compliment.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She responded, taking in the sight of him in formal jacket, crisp white shirt and trousers.

"Are you sure you don't mind coming along?" He clarified as she grabbed her bag and locked her door behind them.

"Are you kidding? I get free food and drink and get to wheedle embarrassing childhood stories about you from people. This sounds like a great night." She grinned wickedly at him.

"You won't be getting anymore diamonds if you talk like that." He grinned back as he let her into the elevator first.

* * *

"Okay so we need a game plan." Kim explained as they settled into their seats in the cab.

Jay looked like he was trying to suppress a grin as he looked over at her, "Why does it feel like you've morphed into Voight and you're planning a stake out?"

"Yeah I just forgot the evidence board." Kim laughed along with a roll of her eyes. "But seriously, it's a big event, yes?"

"Big enough, yeah."

"So, we'll inevitably get separated with a big crowd."

"Yeah so I'll haunt the drinks table and you can mingle." He said, before smiling, "I'm only joking."

She knew he was too, he was far too considerate to do that to her.

"Well we're going to operate like we're undercover, we have to have eyes at all times." She told him. "I'm totally stealing this part from Nicole, but if you get caught in a conversation you don't want to be in, you just pull in right ear. That way I can rush over and drag you away with some excuse."

"That sounds like you will be saving my life a lot tonight. Thank you."

"Your welcome. And just remember it's because I'm the best partner ever." She teased him, poking his arm. Her heart seemed to give an extra beat as she suddenly hoped that he would see through the jokes and upbeat behaviour and think that she was a partner worth sticking with.

One that was with sticking with instead of going back to Hailey.

She felt selfish but she wanted to keep Jay.

* * *

"Time to face the music." Jay grimaced as the cab pulled up at a curb. Jay got out of his side and came around to open her door for her.

She wondered if he treated her like this when they were friends then how wonderful would he be to date. She got out of the cab hoping the fresh air would rid such treasonous thoughts from her mind.

Jay was nervous.

Kim could tell by the way he kept glancing between the ground and the house in front of them and tried to fix the already straight lapels on his jacket. She leaned up to straighten them for him. She didn't know why but she tried to not let her hands linger too long.

"You'll be fine. You might actually enjoy tonight." She suggested before he gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay, maybe you won't hate it?"

"Even that's optimistic." He told her with a raised eyebrow before bringing his hand to rest on her lower back to lead her towards the house.

He knocked at the door and it opened almost instantaneously, "Jay! You made it!" An older woman with gave him a crinkled smile before pulling him in for a hug, "I heard a horrible rumour that you weren't coming!"

"No, just rumours Auntie Kat." Jay told her, "This is Kim, she's my…"

He never got to explain their relationship before the woman pulled Kim in for an equally intense hug.

"Oh, it's lovely to meet you. Come on in, everyone is…well, everywhere, but they're getting started on the food out the back."

"How have you been?" Jay asked.

"Oh, you know, the bad knees run in the family but I'm all the better for seeing you." She patted Jay's cheek. "And you look lovely Kim, how long have you known our Jay then?"

"Oh, about seven years, we've worked in the same district for a while now."

"Ah isn't that sweet?" Kat practically swooned. "Sure, come out this way, everyone will love to meet you." She started to make her way through the long hallway. "It's different isn't it? Without Pat. We all miss your Dad Jay. He was always the life and soul of these things." The woman rattled on about Pat Halstead and Kim's heart squeezed at the look of pain suddenly etched onto Jay's face.

She reached over, took his hand in hers and squeezed, drawing his attention back to her and the party and away from his grief. Jay sent her a fleeting small smile.

They went through a very busy kitchen, with the living room just off it full of people too and out into a garden lit up against the dark night.

"There's a great crowd." Kim told Kat with a smile.

"Oh, there always is, we stick together don't we?" She patted Jay's arm.

"Well if it isn't Jay Halstead! How are you?" A man called, causing Jay to turn. It was only then that Kim noticed her hand was still in Jay's.

"Timmy, hey!" Jay gave Timmy a one-armed hug.

"How is my misfit cousin?" Timmy laughed.

"Keeping idiots like you out of trouble." Jay joked with a laugh.

"You're just bitter because I still have the high score in the local arcade."

"Yeah I lose a lot of sleep over that." Jay replied sarcastically. "It's good to see you man, how have you been?"

"Oh, you know, not sleeping. Hannah has hit a bad patch, never wants to sleep anymore. But enough about my toddler woes, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Right, Timmy this is Kim. Kim this is my mad hat cousin Timmy." Jay said.

Timmy shook Kim's free hand, "He's also still not over the fact that I used to beat him in the street hockey games. Pleasure to meet you Kim."

"You too." Kim replied with a smile. "He's a bad loser, isn't he?"

"I'm standing right here." Jay chipped in.

"The worst." Timmy joked back. "I don't know how you put up with him."

"I try my best." Kim sighed as if being around Jay was a burden. "You guys played hockey together?"

"The whole street did. Our Dad's figured hockey was as close to Irish hurling as we'd get. When I say played, I mean we just hit each other with sticks most of the time." Timmy explained, "Hey did you two get drinks yet? I'll get some."

By Jay's relaxed demeanour, Kim figured that he was happy to be left alone with his cousin. "No, I'll get them, you two catch up." Her hand felt suddenly cold as she pulled it away from Jay's.

She shared a smile with Jay before she went into the crowd in search of the drinks table. By the time she had gotten back to Jay and Timmy she had chatted to a few of Jay's childhood neighbours and an uncle.

At work when they kept eyes on the team or a suspect it was usually one way only. But tonight, Kim could feel Jay's gaze on her as much as she kept looking over at her. It felt like a stronger impulse than it did for work, It felt like there was some invisible pull between them.

Kim sipped her drink while Jay and Timmy caught up. She laughed along and enjoyed hearing their stories but mostly she just liked seeing Jay look so relaxed and actually enjoying himself compared to his worried demeanour earlier.

The buffet table was opened for business soon afterwards and Kim managed to get herself split up from Jay in the crowd of people. She kept her eye on him as she helped herself to some of the food and ended up chatting to a group of women who had grown up on the same street.

"No way."

"I don't believe you."

"You came with Jay Halstead?"

"Yes?" Kim found herself replying to their multitude of questions.

"Lucky you."

"He was the guy everyone wanted to be with when we were younger."

"I heard from Trevor who heard from Jane who heard from someone who said that Will said that his last girlfriend left him right before he was going to propose." One of the women explained to the small group. "You better do right by him." She directed to Kim who wasn't entirely sure how a buffer should respond to such a question.

She had to commend her partner's timing because it was just then that she noticed Jay giving a subtle tug on his right ear.

A great excuse to escape any further questioning.

"Excuse me." She told the group of women and made a beeline for Jay as if she was hunting down a suspect.

"Hi, sorry for interrupting." She said with a fake smile, appearing at Jay's side and edging her way into the small circle of people that were talking. "I'm just going to borrow this guy for a few minutes, Timmy has been asking to see him." She threw in another smile and a few more apologies as she wrapped her hand into the crook of Jay's elbow and extracted him from the group.

"Thank you." Jay whispered in her ear as they walked across the garden. "They wanted to know if I was going to name my first child after my Dad?"

"Sounds like it's time for another drink then." She said, squeezing his arm. "Families, can't live with or without them."

"I hear that."

It took some time before the tension eased from Jay's shoulders, after another beer and Kim relaying some funny childhood stories she had heard. Kat returned, dragging Jay away to see some relative or other, leaving Kim continuing in the conversation they had been in the middle of with Timmy's sister, Clare.

Clare excused herself after another few minutes and with Jay happily chatting with an old man, sitting side by side, she made her way back to the buffet as to not interrupt them.

"Hey, I don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Freddie." A guy about her age leaned over and shook her hand. His grip was firm but his brown eyes were bright with friendliness. His slightly curled blond hair did nothing to dim his good looks.

"Hi." She gave him a smile, "I'm Kim."

"Nice to meet you Kim." Freddie smiled, "You know these sandwiches have Kat's secret recipe sauce in them, guaranteed the best food you'll eat all night." He whispered in conspiracy.

"Ah." Kim smiled back, reaching over to take one, "I'll have to have one then."

"Good idea." He smiled, "So, what do you do Kim, when you're not partying hard like this?" He grinned at the quiet crowd.

She had to laugh, "I'm a cop actually." She said conversationally.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She replied. "What about you?"

"Totally boring, I work in finance."

"Really? What's that like? The finance world?" She asked conversationally.

It was then that Jay appeared at her side. "Hey Kim."

His arrival spawned two surprising facts. The first was that she had never tugged on her ear, never indicated she was uncomfortable but he had appeared at lightning speed. In fact, she had been enjoying Freddie's easy companionship.

The second fact was that Jay's arm circled around her waist, and she didn't want him to let go. It felt like it belonged there.

"Jay, hey man, how's it going?" Freddie asked, leaning back away from the two.

"Freddie, good to see you." Jay gave what Kim could only describe as a borderline unfriendly smile at the other man before turning to her, "Hey, Will has just arrived, want to go say hi?"

"Sure." She said, "See you around." She said to Freddie before making her way across the green towards the other Halstead brother.

"Hey Kim, it's great to see you." Kim was sure that Will had done a double take when he landed eyes on her. A nagging voice in the back of her head whispered vindictively that it was probably because he thought his brother would bring Hailey as his plus one to events.

Not that Kim was his plus one. She was his buffer. Totally different thing.

Her reunion with Will was cut short by the interruption of a very excited older gentleman.

"Look's who's just arrived!" Some elderly male invitee gripped Will by his shoulders. "Young William is here, we can get the music going, Rosie go get your violin." He shouted towards a group of women

Kim didn't think she had ever seen people move with such efficiency.

"What is going on?" She asked Jay with a laugh. His arm was still around her waist.

"This is what happens when you tell a lot of Irish descended people that there's music starting imminently." He explained as a group of musicians sat down together and started playing a lively tune.

Jay and Kim had to stand back as a group of people started dancing in the middle of the garden. The entire group seemed to move in sync with each other and Kim could only look on in amazement.

"Don't look so glum, it looks like fun." She reassured him with a smile, knocking her shoulder against his as they watched the crowd do what Kim could only guess was some fast-paced Irish dancing. She couldn't manage to keep track of the sequence of moves so she just tapped her foot to the beat and laughed at the antics of people swinging in every direction and practically shouting with joy.

Kim and Jay got another drink and stood back to watch the events. The music had a tendency to change at a moment's notice, but to Kim to it seemed to keep the same melody but everyone shouted with glee regardless.

"You look like you'd like to join in." Jay quipped.

"Oh…no. I don't know how to dance like that. And I'm your buffer. We stick together Halstead." She tried to reassure him, wrapping her hand around his upper arm.

Kim's attention was taken away from the fun everyone was having by the fact that Jay put his beer down and shrugged off his jacket, undoing a button on his shirt. "And this is the point that I swear you to secrecy and admit that Will and I took Irish dancing lessons when we were kids."

"Oh really?"

"Well Dad wanted us to and we thought we'd have more luck with girls." He smirked, "Anyway, I can hold a rhythm, just follow my lead."

"How did that go for you? The girl thing."

"I'll let you know." He said wickedly, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the fray.

The music seemed to reverberate in her ears as she somehow took her place in a line across from Jay. A person on either side of her took each of her hands as if she knew what was going to happen. With a shout of delight the line seemed to move until she was a breaths width away from Jay. He just winked at her before she was moved backwards.

Without notice, the people beside her turned full circle, which she missed, but she managed to follow them towards Jay's line again. A voice deep down in her heart informed her that her actions were was less to do with the dance and more that she just couldn't manage to stay far away from her partner.

She was caught off guard when he wrapped his arms around her waist from the side and when she looked at him, they weren't far apart at all. Then he started to spin. The world turned into a cacophony of music and colours that moved frantically in front of her eyes. The only thing that remained clear was the fact that she could keep an eye on Jay. And the fact that he never looked away from her either.

Kim has never laughed so much in her life. She eventually gave up trying to follow the routine and instead just let people guide her around and threw her head back and laughed, clapped along to the music and let Jay be her force of gravity.

It was exactly the kind of night that she needed.

The music settled down a while later with a cake brought out for Old Seán who was turning ninety years old. Kim was sad to have to move from the impromptu dancefloor but her stomach nearly hurt from laughing so much so she didn't complain as she took a seat next to Jay.

The man blew out his candles and then told the crowd who listened in rapt attention at the story of how all the people had moved into that very street many years ago.

There was a toast for all the people who were no longer with them and Kim bit back tears at the melancholy silence that settled over the crowd. Jay reached for her hand in it's wake.

Someone started to tell another story of how their parents had emigrated from Ireland then someone started to sing a slow song that was somehow both sorrowful and cheerful.

"You tired yet?" Jay whispered as she yawned and leaned back in her chair.

"No, I'm happy." She clarified and was rewarded with a bright smile from her partner.

After another few songs and stories, Kim's eyes became heavy. The events of the previous few days seemed to come crashing down on her and plagued her body with fatigue. But she didn't feel scared anymore. She felt safe, right there next to Jay.

"Kim?" His voice filtered into the darkness before she opened her eyes and realised that she had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." She said on reflex, sitting up. A song was still going on among the crowd.

"Don't be." He said softly and seemed completely unfazed that his work colleague had just nearly draped herself on top of him and fallen asleep. Kim felt her cheeks heat. "You want to go home? We have work tomorrow."

Kim glanced at her watch, it was late and no matter how much she was enjoying this aspect of Jay's life, she knew she would need some proper sleep. "Yeah that's probably a good plan." She admitted.

Jay retrieved his jacket and said goodbye to a few of the people he could find and they slipped back through the house. She had called a cab but they still had to wait a few minutes before it arrived.

The night was significantly cooler than it had been when they arrived and she couldn't help but shiver. She had just crossed her arms over her torso when she felt a weight land on her shoulders. Jay had put his jacket around her.

"I can't have you catching a cold after helping me out tonight." He said as way of explanation.

"Well, did I help?" She asked, "Did you hate it after all?"

"No." He admitted with a smile playing on his lips. "It was pretty good."

"I mean I could say I told you so…" She joked. He just threw back his head and laughed.

"Alright, give it to me Burgess."

"What? I would _never_ tease you like that. I'm a great partner, remember?" She grinned.

The cab pulled up and Jay opened the door for her. She was pretty sure even in her sleepy state and the interruption of the sound of the engine that he retorted with something along the lines of "You're the best."

The short cab ride landed her at her place a few minutes later.

"Thank you Jay, for tonight, it was exactly what I needed." Kim said.

"Shouldn't I be thanking you?" He asked. "But I'm glad you had a good time. I'll see you tomorrow?" He said as she got out of the cab.

"See you then." She said but she couldn't get her feet to move her from her spot on the sidewalk, looking down at him in the cab. She had to fight the overwhelming urge to reach down and kiss his cheek.

He didn't look away either.

The cab driver said something that was muffled to Kim but Jay had to look at him and then back to Kim. "I'll wait until you get in okay," He said softly.

"Right." She nodded, trying to wake herself from up such foolish dreams. "Goodnight Jay."

She turned on the spot and made her way to the door of her building. When she was inside, she saw the cab door close and it moved away. Kim took out her phone in the elevator to her floor.

Nicole had texted her, _How did your night go? Did you wear the blue dress?_

Kim stared at the words before telling her that it was a good night, she had got home safe and that she had worn the blue dress.

She just omitted telling her sister that her choice of dress had been complimented by Jay's dark jacket that still clung to her shoulders as she let herself into her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. I hope that everyone is doing okay and thanks for sticking with this story.
> 
> Just as a note about the Irish themed party, I have no idea what it's like for people of Irish decent in America, but I'm Irish myself and usually a party does in fact involve nosy relatives, neighbours who seem to know all your business, random Irish music and dance thrown in. Also I just like to pretend I'm closer to Jay and Will because of the Irish thing haha.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay safe. x


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will may or may not be Team Burgstead.

"Crap I forgot!" Kim cursed when she met Jay on her way into the district building the following morning. The sun had barely risen and Kim wasn't entirely sure she was fully awake but Voight had called the entire team in early.

Apparent kidnapping ring. Never a good start to a day.

"Well it's good to see you too Kim?" Jay retorted.

She grinned at his response, "No, I forgot to bring you back your jacket. I knew there was something that I was forgetting when I left my place this morning." She apologised.

"Well that's good I know you're intending to return it because I was going to file a report of a stolen jacket." He smirked at her.

"Shut up Halstead." She laughed at his teasing and tried to hide her sudden blush. The only thing that she could tie her reaction to was feeling like she had gone back in time and was a lovestruck teenager who was keeping her boyfriend's sweater. This was not the same thing. At all.

"Well I got to keep an eye on you, petty crime is a slippery slope Burgess, who knows what else of mine you'll start stealing?" He mocked with a teasing laugh.

"Oh, is that it?" Kim could just laugh back as Jay opened the doors and let her in first. "You better watch your back so. Just because of your _accusations_ if I were you, I'd keep an eye on all of your possessions." She warned him.

Jay grinned at her, "What happened to partner loyalty?" He asked in mock outrage, "Am I going to come in some morning and my entire desk will be missing?"

"You know that's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that." She pointed at him.

Jay's laugh followed her up the steps and right into the path of the Desk Sergeant.

"Why are you two so chipper this morning?" Trudy glared at them.

"Good morning Sarge." Jay smiled back.

Trudy's glare just deepened to the one that used to make Kim quake as a rookie patrol officer. It didn't bother her anymore, she considered Trudy family. "You two are a bad combination."

But her one statement nearly made Kim's blood freeze. No. She loved working with Jay. Did no one else think they worked well together? Panicked thoughts raced across her mind, stumbling over themselves to question that if Trudy thought they were a bad fit, did that mean Voight would think so too? Would he send Jay back to Hailey and Kim would have to start all over again? How could she lose another partner?

"Why's that?" Jay asked to humour Trudy. His tone was light and the smile was still on his face but Kim noticed the slight tension in the way he straightened himself up.

"You're too _happy_ all the time together." She grumbled. Kim instantly felt her body relax.

"...I'm sorry we get along?" Jay tried.

Trudy just rolled her eyes, "It's a nice change from the normal days around here I suppose." She sighed, "But it's too damn early for you both being so pleasant and cheery."

"We'll work on being miserable and angry then boss." Kim grinned.

"Oh, go do some work." Trudy dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

"You got it Sarge." Jay said, and nudged his shoulder to Kim's "C'mon partner."

Kim trailed after him, up the set of stairs. "So, hey can you not steal my car though? I'm kind of attached to it." He tried to tell her seriously but failed when he broke into a smile.

Kim sighed, "Depends on how many diamonds you get me. You know I quite like this partnership; I get to keep all your stuff and you give me presents." She mused.

Jay unlocked the gate with a laugh but Kim could feel someone looking at her. She turned her head to catch Trudy still looking at the pair. Trudy just smiled and nodded at her and went back to tapping at her keyboard. Like she had just solved a puzzle.

Kim didn't know what the puzzle was.

They made their way up to their office, where Hailey was already on the phone and Kevin and Vanessa were emerging from the kitchenette with cups of coffee. Kim could see Voight pacing in his office. Jay shrugged off his jacket and made his way to his desk. For some reason it felt far away to Kim that morning. She put it down to the fact that she had been around him for so long the past couple of days. She would readjust, it wasn't like that would be her new norm.

Adam showed up five minutes later and Kim had to smile when she said good morning to him and he mumbled something incoherent. Adam was _not_ a morning person. Kim went about setting up for the day, putting away old files and starting up her computer. Voight emerged not long after.

Everyone sat up and looked in his direction. Everyone except for Jay who caught Kim's eye and mimicked putting his hands around his desk as if protecting it from her. She had to fight to keep a straight face while Voight gave them the lowdown.

"Listen up, we have a kidnapping ring on our hands. Patrol found two kids this morning, the older one escaped and alerted them. Him and his little sister had been trapped for four days. The house wasn't rented to anyone but a neighbour tipped patrol off. Keith Wray. Rap sheet includes stalking and attempted abduction."

"So, this mightn't be his first rodeo?" Kevin guessed.

"Exactly. I want a list of all missing children in the wider area _right now._ And we're going to run through every one of them. He's gone into hiding and I don't think they were the only kids he was keeping." Voight explained. "Upton, Rojas, get me a list of the kids and all their contact details then you're going to start hitting them up for any other information they have. Atwater, Ruzek you go back to where these kids were found and bang on some doors again, we need all the information we can get on this animal. Halstead and Burgess, take a ride to Med where the two kids who were found this morning are being treated, see if you can get any information from them or the parents. We need something to link them to other kids."

Kim, along with the rest of the unit, jumped into action. It was second nature. Kevin and Adam waited to get pictures of Keith and Hailey and Vanessa poured over a computer screen and reached for their phones. She and Jay took the stairs two at a time to get to their car.

Time to go to work.

* * *

They showed their badges at the check in desk when they arrived in Med and were allowed meet the victims. A boy, Daniel, about fourteen, and his little sister Beth. Beth was still in the ED being treated so they met Daniel and his parents in a private room just off the busy ED. Kim took the lead with the boy and his parents, gently trying to cajole useful information out of them.

"What do you think?" Jay asked as they left the room after coming up with not much information at all.

Kim paused, "I think the Dad knows something."

"Just what I was thinking, but he clams up whenever his wife looks at him." Jay replied.

This was why Kim thought they were a good team. A few weeks together and it felt easy to read his mind while working a case.

"Think we can split them up?" She asked as they drifted from the room.

"Without causing suspicion?"

"I don't know, but we need to do…something." They were hanging by the exit when the father, Paul, walked past them, out to the waiting area and to the vending machines.

"You got that?" Kim asked.

Jay nodded, "Just keep an eye on his wife." He told her before moving after the man to have a private word. Kim turned back to the room where they had left his wife and son. The woman caught her eye through the window and Kim looked away quickly, trying not to arouse suspicion.

It was then that she caught sight of Will Halstead, standing by the nurses' bay, right in eyeline of the room. Perfect. She could keep a look and make it look like she was talking to a doctor instead.

She wandered over to where the other Halstead brother was frowning at the paperwork in front of him. "Hey Will."

"Kim. Hey, how's it going?" He looked up and smiled when he saw her. "So, which date is it going to be, again? It slipped my mind from last night."

"What date?"

"The wedding." Will grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Aunt Kat reckons says that she'll have to buy a new hat. Jay brought you to the party after all, it might have set some tongues wagging."

Kim had to laugh, "Well at least it's further proof the buffer system works. Even if everyone was focused on me, at least they left Jay alone.

"Yeah you went down a storm, if you ever consider becoming a Halstead, you'll be welcomed with open arms." Was that sincerity behind his smile?

She was saved from having to respond his statement by the mother of the children going to leave the room. She threw an apologetic smile at Will and made her way over, with her notebook open, "Mrs Henderson, I'm _so_ sorry to trouble you again, would you mind if I asked Daniel one more question?" She asked as sweetly as she could.

The woman looked over Kim's shoulder, looking for her husband. "I…I suppose so."

"Great, thank you so much." Kim replied. She made sure to plaster her customer service smile from her flight attendant days onto her face to distract the woman. They returned to the room and Kim sat down with Daniel and his mother.

As Kim asked the boy anther standard question, Jay knocked on the door.

"Excuse me." She smiled at the mother and son and opened the door just slightly to talk to Jay. She raised her eyebrows at her partner.

"Get her away from Daniel." He whispered, his eyes pleading. Kim didn't know the details. But she knew by the way that Jay was looking at her, they need to remove the woman from the room without spooking her and putting Daniel in danger again.

She gave an exaggerated nod and replied loudly, "But I told Sarge we want to avoid bringing the kid to the district. C'mon Jay!"

"I know, I don't make the rules, they're insisting." Jay jumped onto her made up tangent, arguing back loudly. Kim had to commend his acting skills.

Kim sighed dramatically. "Can we get Sarge on the phone? Maybe if he get's a medical lowdown, he'll relent?"

"His doctor was just called into surgery." Jay lied swiftly, blocking the view into the ED where Dr Choi was still around.

"Mrs Henderson?" Kim turned on the women with faux apologies and sweetness. "I'm _so_ sorry to have to ask you this, but would you mind coming out here and talking to our sergeant on the phone? He's insisting on getting a verified medical…"

The woman interrupted her, she had been eavesdropping as Kim had hoped, "Yes of course. You're not bringing my son to a police station after what he's been through." The woman then practically pushed past Kim and Jay. A child services representative was already there, to move into the room with Daniel as Jay moved swiftly and handcuffed Mrs Henderson.

"She's been having an affair with the guy who kidnapped the kids." Jay explained to Kim as they made their way back to the district. "The husband knew she was cheating but didn't want to ruin their family."

"Any chance Keith has been faithful?" She asked skeptically.

"Nope. Rojas just rang, one of the other mothers of a missing kid was seeing him too." Jay replied.

The day seemed to fly by as the team worked on finding all the contacts they could of Keith Wray. They eventually retrieved an address of one of his meet-up spots from Mrs Henderson but when they got there he was long gone.

They got a break in the case when they re-questioned both women who had been 'dating' Keith Wray and found out he had held Daniel and Beth in a house that he said had belonged to his uncle who was out of town and that he was minding it for him. He had brought Mrs Henderson and the kids to it before.

The man who owned the building had been dead for years and he hadn't come up in the case until Adam happened to be cross checking some information and found out that the man was actually Keith's biological father, who by all accounts he had never met.

The other mother whose kids were missing told them about a house he had brought them to once. According to him he was minding it for an uncle and she had never thought twice about it.

"What do you think he's trying to do Sarge? Recreate a family or something?" Kevin asked as everyone suited up to go raid the house.

"Sounds like it. Never met his real dad, abused by his stepfather, dating multiple women with kids. Maybe he's trying to keep these kids to make a family of his own? Who knows? All I know is that we had got to find those kids."

"These houses were left to a niece, Tiffany Danes. Lives downtown, single, has a brother Charlie in Ohio, has a clear sheet, left the houses empty since some bad tenants last year. We rang her and she says that she's never even heard of Keith let alone met him." Adam clarified from the report he had been sent.

"I doubt she has, the guy probably followed his father's property and found it empty now. But this niece gives us an angle to get into the house without causing suspicion, we need to not turn this into a hostage situation. We need to get in, get him distracted and get those kids out safe. Role a car to this Tiffany's place and get her here, we need her key." Voight said. "Halstead, Burgess, learn your new names, you're going in."

"Got it Sarge." Jay nodded.

"You're back in town and we want to renovate the places?" Kim bounced the idea off her partner.

"Yeah I like that. Just walk in, identifying ourselves, he'll hopefully get spooked. Play on the family aspect?" Jay replied, "Safe word?"

"Buffer." She informed the group and noticed Jay trying to keep a straight face as he nodded.

* * *

It was an hour later when they were in were in position.

"You go in nice and easy, bright, friendly, thinking he's a contractor you hired, keep him talking, while Hailey and Vanessa will go in the back. I'll be out front and Adam and Kevin will be around the back. Everyone clear?" Voight spoke over their earpieces as Kim sat in the car with Jay.

"Clear. We'll move in now." Jay replied. He turned to Kim, "We got this?"

"We got this." She nodded.

With that they drove further up the street and parked out the front of the house.

"Charlie, look the contractor's here already, I told you we can come back and clear it out some other day." Kim said in a loud voice as they made their way to the door.

"Tiffany, I _told_ you, I'm only here for a few days, I might as well do something to help."

"You are just like Mom, you are so stubborn." Kim grumbled aloud as she opened the front door with her key. Jay looked over her shoulder and nodded for her to proceed.

"Hello? Hi? So sorry to bother you while you're working, my name's Tiffany. I'm the owner, I told the letting agency to hire you?" Kim called into what seemed like an empty house. There was noise upstairs and a loud bang that signaled the closing of a door with force.

"Sounds like they're upstairs." Jay managed to sound conversational as Charlie and still alert Rojas and Upton where the kids could be.

"Who's there?" A frantic male voice boomed as hurried footsteps on the stairs signaled his arrival. Kim put on a fake smile and turned around like she was setting up for a scene in a play.

"Hi. Sorry are you the carpenter? My name's Tiffany, I own the house. The letting agency said they'd be some contractors here fixing some of the issues. I don't mean to bother you."

"Tiffany?" Keith echoed as he came into the living room more.

"Yeah and this is my brother Charlie. He's in town for the weekend and we thought we'd clear out some of the stuff that the last tenants left. I'm sorry to bother you when you're working."

"Working. Yeah, I'm working. There's some issues upstairs." He replied far too quickly. "It's not safe up there yet, you can't go up there."

"Draw this out as long as you can." Voight's voice echoed through their earpieces.

"Sis I told you not to let those last tenants rent the place. I knew they were trouble, ruining Uncle Jimmy's property at that." Jay sighed. "Thanks for helping us out man, the agency is paying you right?"

Jay had wandered into the kitchen, away from the hallway. The hallway that Rojas and Upton would need to access to get up to the kids. He pretended to check some of the cupboards, taking up the mantle of protective brother.

"Pay-? Yeah, yeah they are, it's all good." Keith jumped onto their lie, trying to cover himself. "You mentioned an uncle?" His voice cracked.

Kim tried to not look happy. They had him hooked.

"Yeah, our Uncle Jimmy. He originally owned this place, he owned a few more properties too. He was much better at managing them than me." Kim told him as she saw Vanessa and Hailey sneak quietly by the door and went to climb the stairs. "He never had kids, always wanted them. Didn't he Charlie?"

Kim sat down at the kitchen table to draw Keith further in the room. Jay went opening the cupboards and closing them loudly to give the others a chance to climb the stairs unnoticed. "Sorry I thought they'd be some coffee or something to give you man." Jay apologised.

"It doesn't matter." Keith practically snapped, "You said he wanted kids?" He asked, sitting down at the table to talk to Kim, practically beseeching her for more information.

Kim sighed wistfully, "Yeah, the poor man just wanted children. He was so good with us. But he never had any of his own."

"Got them. They're safe." Hailey confirmed through their earpieces.

"Hey, sorry man, I never got your name?" Jay asked and approached Keith with a hand as if to shake his. Jay sent Kim a quick wary glance. They didn't know if he was armed.

"Keith. Keith Wray." As soon as he placed his hand in Jay's, Kim jumped and grabbed his other arm, bending it behind back. Jay gripped his hand and twisted too, and the two of them pushed him to the ground before he had a chance to shout.

"Well Keith Wray, you're under arrest." Jay quipped in response as they held him down. Adam and Kevin breached the back door and Voight came in the front door as Hailey and Vanessa brought the kids down to meet the ambulance that Voight had standing by.

"You two good?" Kevin asked as Adam took Keith from their grip and started to lead him outside.

"Yeah," Jay nodded, straightening his jacket, "Kim?"

He held her gaze, waiting for an honest answer. "Yeah I'm good." She confirmed.

"Well nice job you two." Voight said, "We'll meet back at the District."

With that they were dismissed but Kim clung to the words. Words of praise, _from Voight_. It didn't happen too often. So, Kim felt as if her steps were a little lighter as she walked out to the car with Jay, filled with hope that Voight thought she and Jay made a good team. Good enough to keep them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks again for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> I'm off to buy my hat for the Jay/Kim wedding :) If it could happen in the show, that would be even better haha


	11. Chapter 11

Kim could feel Jay looking at her through the interrogation room window behind her.

He was a protective partner, he never left her alone in that room without looking out for her. Cases did sometimes have a tendency to go sideways in the dim room.

Kim turned away from the suspect to look at herself in the two-sided glass that acted as a mirror on her side. She still had one of Jay's blue pens tucked behind her ear. She ended up giving her reflection a small smile, but it was really meant for Jay. She idly wondered if he had yet noticed the fact that she had stolen all the blue pens from his desk. The blue pens were his favourite.

Biting back her smile, Kim turned back and refocused on the questioning she was carrying out on a suspect who had been caught lying. "Rachel, you've got to work with me here." She implored the young woman who was sitting across from her.

"I told you, I don't know anything."

Kim sighed, rubbing her forehead in impatience before taking a seat. "But we have proof that you _do_."

The young woman wouldn't look Kim in the eye. Kim could have groaned; it was going to be a long interrogation.

And Kim was already exhausted, this case had been kicking the entire Intelligence department's ass since it got shuffled around a few departments before being shoved onto them four days ago.

A long hour later and Kim finally squirmed the specifics they needed out of the woman.

"This is good." She tired to reassure the woman who was sniffling from her tears. "I know it doesn't feel like that right now, but this is the right decision _for you_. You'll get a good deal, and we'll make sure that you are protected from him."

No answer.

"Alright." Kim gave into the silence and gathered up her files. "Someone will be around to get you."

She left the room and rubbed the back of her neck in vain, trying to ease the ache that had crept into her bones after little sleep the night before.

"She wasn't giving up easily." Jay commented when he met Kim as she closed the door behind her and handed him the files.

"No. I can't really blame her. We all do stupid things for love I guess." Kim shrugged as they fell into step on the short walk back to the bullring.

"Including hiding a wanted fugitive and covering up his drug ring?"

"Okay. Maybe not that stupid." Kim admitted.

"You're not wrong. Love does kind of skew everyone's views right?" Jay conceded.

"Yeah…"

Jay moved quickly.

He stepped in front of her, mid step, flashed her a warm smile and gently but quickly plucked the pen from behind her ear. His hand brushed her temple as he did so and for a woman so well trained in reacting to unexpected movements at crime scenes, she could never admit to anyone that she had faltered and missed a step at his touch.

Jay fell back around into step in front of her, flashing her a smirk as he looked back and held up the pen and the files, "You don't mind if I borrow this? All my pens have just _disappeared_."

"You should file a report for stolen goods." Kim was proud of herself for managing to keep a straight face.

He threw his head back in a laugh, "Yeah I'll look into that." He flipped through the files as he walked, "So I'll hand this over and Voight says we're all to take off. He's handing this back over to narcotics."

"Really?" Kim asked with an audible gasp. She couldn't remember if they had ever handed back a case after working so hard on it.

"Yeah. They messed it up enough for us before handing it over and have any of us slept in the last what, seventy-two hours?"

Kim's aching bones and oncoming headache could attest to that fact.

They made their way into the bullring as Vanessa was packing up her desk and Hailey was shrugging on her jacket. Adam and Kevin were apparently long gone, and Voight's door was closed.

"And this is our 'let's get out of here card'. Go home." Jay said to the others as he dropped the files on his desk.

"Finally!" Vanessa nearly cheered.

Jay sat down at his desk and started signing his name on different pages. The case still had more paperwork.

"Hey, do you need a hand with any of that?" Kim asked, trailing him and leaning against the corner of his desk.

He looked up at her with a soft smile, "Nah, it's not much. Get out here Kim."

"Kim. Girl's night out. _Let's go_." Vanessa called from the top of the stairs.

Kim had forgotten about that. She wanted to do nothing more than go home, crawl into bed, curl up and sleep. But the three women of Intelligence had sat down two weeks ago to _finally_ clear a date for a girls' night out between Hailey and Kim's family obligations and the advanced classes that Vanessa was taking at the academy.

"Are you sure?" Kim whispered to her partner, the idea of him being stuck in the dark office with paperwork while she went out did not sit well with her.

Jay stood up with no warning and Kim had to force herself to _not_ react this time. She didn't know if she would have taken a step back or forward when he straightened to full height and she found his body a breaths width from hers. It only served to remind her of the times that he had held her close as she cried or when he had swung her around in a dance. How could she have gotten so used to having him so close but the proximity still managed to surprise her?

"That's an order, Burgess." He told her in a low voice with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Kim was going to ignore the spark that seemed to ignite at the base of her spine and fizzle it's way up her back.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked up at him, challenge simmering under her skin, "Oh, is it Halstead?"

He broke their apparent staring contest first, smiling and holding up his hand, "Scout's honour, it's just like five more signatures and filing it away."

"Were you ever even a Scout?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

Voight emerging from his office broke their pseudo- argument and saved Jay from having to answer. "What are you all still doing here?"

"Leaving now Boss." Hailey confirmed, "Kim let's go."

Feeling defeated she turned to Voight, "Yeah we're leaving now, Sarge."

"Goodnight Kim." Kim could hear the smirk in Jay's voice as she made her way back over to her desk to grab her things.

She couldn't help but throw a smile over her shoulder before she made her way out, "Goodnight Jay."

Kim dragged herself to the locker room, took a quick shower, trying to reinvigorate her tired bones and changed clothes in record time to grab a cab with Hailey and Vanessa to Molly's.

Vanessa chatted animatedly in the cab and while Kim was glad the other woman was trying to rouse a bit of energy and enthusiasm, she couldn't help but want a quieter evening to cure the headache that she had developed. Kim couldn't help but think that she'd rather be having a quiet drink with Jay or curled up on her sofa watching crappy TV while they laughed over their even crappier commentary.

It was funny how used to had gotten to his company. It had been weeks since she had got to hang out with him outside of work.

It was ridiculous but she missed him.

That one thought pounded louder in her head than her headache. She shouldn't miss him. She saw him every day at work. They had all been working so much overtime the past few weeks that she had arguably seen him more than she ever had before. But it wasn't the same.

He had somehow become an integral part of her life outside of work.

She liked being with the part of Jay that he was in work; serious, hardworking and quick on his feet but she missed all the other parts of him she got to see outside of work. His caring nature, his warm hugs, his quick wit.

The lights of Molly's drew the three women in from the darkening evening sky as they got out of their cab. The bar wasn't overly crowded and they could easily find a table to claim as their own. While they waited for their first drinks, they laughed at the stories that Vanessa had about her new classes. Their second round was spent commiserating with Hailey on a case that had gone south the week before.

When Herrmann brought the third round over to them the bar was getting busier with the firefighters from Firehouse 51 arriving and Kim was sure she caught a glimpse of a redhead in the crowd, she assumed it was Will Halstead. Kim slunk down in her seat without thinking about it. Will's joke about Kim and Jay's relationship status a few weeks back had stuck with her more than it should have.

Vanessa used the lull in conversation to change the subject. "So…Kim, Hailey and I have been noticing some things in work and that got us talking about it and…well, is there something you need to tell us?" She smiled coyly as she stirred her drink and looked over at Kim with raised eyebrows.

Kim did a quick recap of things she should tell the other women but came up short, she didn't know what the other officer was talking about.

"Is there something?" Kim asked them both. Hailey seemed to hide a grin with a sip of her drink.

"Jay?" Vanessa seemingly tried to prompt.

"Yeah?" Kim was officially lost. "What about him?"

"You and Jay?"

The irrational fear that they were bad at their jobs together struck Kim like a cold knife. "Are we not helping out enough? We're solid, you can trust us, I swear.. If there's any issues, just let us know."

Hailey jumped in, "No Kim, it's nothing like that, you guys are great at your job." She reassured Kim before looking pointedly at Vanessa, seemingly trying to tell her housemate to change the subject.

"Well, then, what is it?" Kim couldn't help but be curious.

" _You and Jay?"_ Vanessa reiterated with raised eyebrows. "All I'm saying is that you two had what looked like a _pretty_ awesome make out session on that one case."

And curiosity killed the cat.

Memories of their impromptu kiss flickered through Kim's mind, the gentle way Jay cradled her face, the warm feeling of having him so close... "That was for work." Kim found herself arguing more against her own memories rather than her friends. "And it was _ages_ ago."

That didn't explain why she could call up every detail of it like it had been yesterday. And the intruding question of if that was what he kissed like for work, then what would a real kiss from him be like?

"Hmmm." Vanessa was not buying it. "Are you sure? Because it looked _pretty_ convincing."

"There is nothing between us. He's a good…he's a _great_ partner. That's all." Kim stated.

"You two do work well together." Hailey tried to bridge the argument, taking the diplomatic option of taking nobody's side.

"But if there ever _was_ something…." Vanessa smirked, "You should totally tell us."

"What are we, twelve years old?" Hailey laughed at the suggestion.

"Oh, come on it would make work so much more interesting!" Vanessa argued.

"Word of warning; in-house romances tend not to end well." Hailey told Vanessa. She didn't need to tell Kim, both women could attest to that fact.

"Okay yeah, but c'mon Kim and Jay would be so cute."

"Can we change topic?" Kim asked in slight desperation, "And talk about something that isn't my non-existent love life?"

"Fine." Vanessa sighed in good humour, "Did you find an outfit for your brother's wedding yet?" She asked Hailey.

Kim breathed a silent sigh of relief, that was a much safer topic.

Her reprieve didn't last long; Kim liked Will Halstead but she could have thrown her drink at him, the man had the _worst_ timing.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite sister in law." Will appeared at her side, throwing a friendly arm around her shoulders, and caused Vanessa to nearly spit out her drink in shock. "How are you ladies this evening?"

"He's joking." Kim immediately jumped in and tried to clarify the man's statement. Vanessa's eyes lit up in a way that Kim just knew the younger officer was running with the theory. Hailey just stayed eerily quiet. The mask she wore regularly in work when she was surprised and tried to not show it.

An ice-cold whisper crawled into the back of Kim's mind…Hailey and Jay had been a tight partnership. Was she totally sure there hadn't been something between them?

"Will's joking. It's a joke. There's nothing going on between me and Jay." Kim bit her tongue to stop herself from being so defensive of their relationship. They were partners, _that was all_ , everyone knew that. Nobody needed to second guess it, least of all Kim.

"Not if my aunts have anything to say about it, this one went down a treat at the annual Halstead and friends party." Will chipped in with a grin and squeezed Kim's shoulders.

"Wait, Jay brought you to that party?" Hailey asked in a quiet but firm tone.

"Yeah, it was nothing. I was a diversion." Kim tried to play it off.

"You can say that again, Jay attention seemed fairly diverted." Kim didn't even listen to what Will was saying, she was too busy trying to think of ways to get out of the hole that he was digging for her.

Kim wanted to erect a statue in Kelly Severide's honour when he came over to ask Will something about a patient that had been brought to Med during his shift that day and therefore accidentally pulling Will away from their group.

"I'm going to get some more drinks." Kim declared, needing some breathing space from what she expected to be another onslaught of questions from Vanessa about Jay.

Getting to the bar and back with their drinks gave her a good ten minutes to prepare but when she placed the tray down, they had moved back to the topic of Hailey's failed outing to find an outfit for her brother's wedding. And Jay wasn't mentioned for the rest of the night.

When their energy seemed to drop after they finished the drinks Kim had gotten, they collectively decided it would be a good idea to go home.

Kim was not about to argue. They made promises to not leave it so long until their next girls nights and Kim got into a separate cab at the door of Molly's.

Not for the first time, she was glad her place wasn't far. The slight buzz from the alcohol kept her awake until she let herself in her door. She got changed and crawled into her welcoming bed and wished for sleep to overtake her.

It didn't.

Kim lay awake in the darkness. The tiredness had worn off. Her body was aching, but her mind felt wide awake.

She huffed and turned over for what felt like the millionth time, punching her pillow into what she hoped was a more comfortable shape.

The minutes ticked away while her mind wouldn't stop racing. She just couldn't calm her mind. She went and got herself a glass of water, read a few pages of a book that was lying on her bedside locker and even moved to the other side of her bed. She was hoping tiredness and sleep would come.

It wouldn't.

She was bored, lying there by herself in the darkness, with only her thoughts for company.

It was late.

Far too late for what she was thinking about doing.

But she did it anyway. Without thinking twice, she picked up her phone and pressed call on Jay's number. Before immediately ending the call, wondering if she had lost her mind.

Her phone rang seconds later as Jay called her back.

"Kim?" Jay said when she answered, she breathed a silent sigh of relief when he sounded alert and awake, hoping she hadn't woken him.

"Hey Jay…" How the hell was she going to explain why she called him?

Why had she? She got up from her bed and paced her floor, the question echoing around her head. She missed spending time with him outside work it had been a long few days and she wanted to hear his voice, wanted to catch up, wanted to relax. He had that effect on her, she realised, he steadied her.

"I pressed your number by mistake, sorry." She lied.

"Oh, no problem."

She expected him to say goodnight and hang up but he paused before continuing. Kim pretended that she didn't start smiling like an idiot.

"Hey, did you have a good night out afterwards?" He asked

"Oh yeah, it was really nice actually. We ran into Will too."

"Yeah, he mentioned he was heading there and I was going to meet him but Vanessa told me, Kev and Adam that we were, under no circumstances, allowed in Molly's during your girls' night."

"She is a force to be reckoned with." Kim conceded, wandering as she listened into her living room, where she sank into the sofa.

"You can say that again." Jay laughed, "She reminds me of this girl I went to the academy with…"

She settled against the cushions while listening to his story, his voice was so clear it was almost like he was there in person.

She swore she only blinked.

But one minute the sky was dark outside her windows as she and Jay talked and the next the sun had risen.

Kim blinked rapidly from the glare of the sun through her living room windows, extracting herself from the sofa cushions. Her phone was still clasped in her hand.

After trying for so long, she had obviously achieved it, she had fallen asleep.

Running a hand through her tangled hair, Kim tried to remember saying goodnight to Jay but failed. She yawned and unlocked her phone to find a message from the man in question from hours earlier.

_I think you've fallen asleep. Goodnight Kim._

She couldn't help but smile at the words. She could hear his voice while she read them. She stretched and stood up, noting the aches in her bones were gone and her mind was clear. She didn't know when she had fallen asleep.

All she knew was that had slept better that night than she had in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So sorry for the delay, I honestly don't mean to leave such big gaps in updating but work and life gets in the way. Thanks for sticking with this story and for all the support! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and would love to know what you think :)


	12. Chapter 12

Slipping the phone back into her pocket, Kim gave herself a second to breathe a sigh of relief. Stage one of the plan, was complete. Now she just had to maintain her cover. Not wasting any time, lest she get noticed for unusual behaviour, she slipped quietly back into the bigger room.

Kim locked eyes with Jay.

Across the room, her partner stood with a well-rehearsed pretend relaxed posture. He didn't give any indication that he knew what she had just done. She couldn't give him any signals that she had succeeded in stage one, not when they were in the same room as the unknowing person they were working with.

They had to stick to the plan, the unsuspecting man couldn't know that they were working a case.

Being undercover was always a challenge, but Kim found it easier when Jay was on her team. When they went undercover together, it was easier to have an excuse to talk to him. To steady her nerves. He was like a solid rock she could tie herself to.

They had worn themselves into a good partnership and Kim felt as if she knew Jay's work patterns like the back of her hand. She never even had to look for Jay anymore, she could _fee_ l his presence in a room.

Today, his blue eyes drew her across the room. The place was abuzz, phones ringing, furious typing, and shouting in another room, it all helped to block out the fact that Kim had disappeared for five minutes.

Jay was in deep conversation with the man who didn't know about their secret plan.

It pained her that the Kevin _was_ the unknowing target. She hated going behind his back.

"Any luck tracking that down?" Jay asked, with a heaving sigh, resting his hands on the desk in front of him, talking about their actual case while also asking about her secret phone call.

"Yeah, I got a hit on the plates, I've put in a request for more information." She told the truth, she just omitted the phone call she had made but she knew Jay would understand her coded words.

"Cool. Ruzek's chasing another lead now." Kevin informed the pair. "Hey Kim, drinks on me Friday night?"

"Ah sorry I can't Kev, I promised I'd babysit Zoe." Kim lied. "Celebrating anything special?"

"Nah, nothing really. No worries, I'll check with Ruzek, see if I can drag him out." Lie, Kim thought, it was Kevin's birthday that weekend. And now she was hoping that he would think that everybody had forgotten.

"Yeah you know I'd go man, but the damn Detective briefings have a tendency to run long over time." Jay pulled a face.

"I get it, some other time." Kevin confirmed before rushing back over to his desk when Hailey had hit upon new information on the actual case they were working on, shouting for Voight to come from his office to listen.

"Stage One?" Jay asked under his breath, holding out a closed fist, hidden from the view of the other occupants of the room by his desk.

"Complete." Kim tapped her knuckles against his.

She hated lying to Kevin but the call was important. It was tough keeping a secret from a diligent cop like Kevin. But Molly's was booked for that Friday night.

Her mission had been a success.

Operation Surprise Birthday Party for Kevin was set in motion.

* * *

After wrapping up their work for the day, Kim opened her locker. The inside of the door was adorned with photos from work, one of the current group of Intelligence, one of her, Kevin and Trudy at Trudy and Randall's wedding, another was the only picture of Al she had and the last was of Nicole and Zoe. It was the same locker she had been using for years.

But today it felt different. That was because the jacket was staring her in the face, waiting to be handed back to it's rightful owner. She found that she didn't want to give it back, it, much like Jay, had become a part of Kim's life.

She had finally brought Jay's jacket to work two weeks ago but hadn't found an opportune moment to give it back to him. She had to be careful, she knew if Vanessa caught wind of it, the jacket wouldn't be just a jacket anymore. It would be an indication that something else was going on.

But that evening was the perfect moment. Jay and Kevin were chatting as they packed up, and together with herself, they were the last Intelligence members left in the building. So, she set about rearranging her locker, wasting time until Kevin left.

Kim knew Jay. She knew that he would be alert for her with her plans about Kevin's party and would wait Kevin out to check in with her.

Ten minutes later Kevin bid them both a goodnight and Jay stayed behind.

"I can do undercover, not a problem, but trying to keep a secret from people I know? _Really_ hard." Jay said with a smile, sticking his head around the corner of the locker block after Kevin had left.

"Well Herrmann has given us Molly's for Friday so it's not for much longer." Kim reassured him.

"Perfect." Jay grinned as he zipped up his gear bag and she almost hesitated.

"Hey Jay," She felt almost shy, she had kept his jacket for too long already. "Here you go." She pulled his folded jacket from her locker and handed it over to him.

The black material felt as soft as the night he had placed it around her shoulders.

"I thought I heard voices, what are you two still doing here?" Trudy asked as she appeared in the doorway just as Jay had moved to take the jacket from Kim.

The split second could have lasted an eternity because Kim had no doubt the Desk Sergeant hadn't missed any of the exchange. Both she and Jay had grip of his black jacket, that was distinctly _not_ a work jacket, until Kim let go as if the very material burnt. Red climbed into her cheeks under the Sergeant's gaze, feeling like she might as well have been caught making out half-naked with her partner.

"Just leaving now Sarge." Jay said as he picked up his gear bag while his other hand flexed on his jacket

"Yeah..." Kim echoed, "Hey Sarge, we're having a secret party for Kevin's birthday this Friday, can you and Mouch make it?"

The air in the room felt heavy for the second before she spoke. "Of course. Atwater deserves it." Trudy replied, "See you later."

Kim had never moved as quickly before as she moved to close her locker, grab her bag and practically pushed Trudy aside leaving the room, "See you later." She called over her shoulder. She was running from Trudy and she couldn't pinpoint why.

So, she just kept running.

* * *

Friday took an age to come around, especially when Kim was trying to keep a secret at work.

"Yes, but I need the cake ready by six for collection." Kim told the baker on her personal phone as Jay drove them back to the station on Thursday evening. When the woman on the other side of the line agreed, Kim could hang up and ticked it off her to-do list.

"Kim. Remember to breathe." Jay said as she scribbled away in her notebook. Planning a surprise party for her best friend was proving more difficult than expected. Work had gotten even _more_ hectic than usual and left little time for party planning.

"Yeah I know. I just need to check with the decorations place to make sure they got my email about the colour scheme." She ranted.

Her parents always told her that she often got too 'excited' about things. And that very tendency had often proved to be a thorn in her side. It had chased a lot of people in her life away.

And the last thing she wanted to do was overstep their working relationship and appear foolish in front of Jay.

"Why don't you take tomorrow off?" He suggested "You have enough furlough hours and if you let Voight in on the secret, he definitely won't mind."

"You think?" She asked, doubting herself. When she got like this, she felt like a burden. Maybe Jay didn't want to put up with her all day…

"Yeah and I can take on off early and give you a hand, Kev already thinks I have some fake briefing meeting and I've plenty of hours worked up too."

That took her by surprise. He really wanted to be around her when she was like this?

"Really? I mean you don't have to…"

"Are you kidding? I'd love to." He said as he pulled into the district back lot. "Keep to the plan Burgess, we have stage two of party planning to get to."

* * *

By midday on Friday Kim was covered in misplaced confetti and dust as she rushed around the bar area. Herrmann had graciously, and after _maybe_ too many nagging phone calls from Kim, given her the keys to Molly's to start decorating while the staff at Firehouse 51 went home that morning to get some rest after their twenty-four hour shift.

Kim picked up her phone after a message came through to find it was only from Vanessa; _So Jay is taking off early today…are you sure 'party planning' isn't another word for sleeping together?_

Kim rolled her eyes, Vanessa was not letting her notion about the pair go. She put her phone down just as the door opened.

She cringed to herself, her hair was in _some_ sort of updo after it had fallen down a few too many times as she rearranged the furniture for a third time and she just had to stand there and look at a perfectly clean and groomed Jay appear.

"Hey Kim." He called as he edged his way inside while carrying a large box. "I've picked up the banners, how's it going?"

Kim sighed, placing her hands on her hips and surveying the damage she had caused in the investment of creating a great night for Kevin, "Okay, I guess? I'm a mess." She tried to laugh off her sudden feeling of awkwardness, rubbing her hands against her jeans.

Jay looked her up and down with a smile nearly breaking through. "Nah, you're…fine. Need help?"

"Yes please." She smiled, briefly wondering what other adjective he was going to use to describe her.

"Okay, just this once, I'll let you lead." He smirked. They both knew it was a joke, if anything Jay trusted Kim's intuition on the job more than his own and let her take the lead most times despite their ranks. She appreciated his trust more than he'd ever know.

She shook her head at his joke, "Do you think the tables are okay like this?" She asked.

Jay approached her, surveying the room. He hesitated, "Isn't that where they always are?"

"Yes." Kim admitted, "But I've tried other arrangements. Do you think it'll be okay?" She didn't realise she was wringing her hands with anxiety until Jay reached over and placed a hand gently on hers. Her hands still and she took a calming breath.

"Yes, I do, I think it'll be great and Kevin will be so exited about all of this." Jay reassured her.

"Thanks Jay." And she meant it. He drew his hand back and her own felt cold at the loss of contact.

"So, what's on your list next?"

"How do you feel about holding the ladder while I hang the banners?"

"Like I was born to do it." He tossed back with a grin.

"That's the spirit." She laughed as they went about strategically placing the "Happy Birthday Kevin" banners.

It was easy.

It was so easy just being with Jay.

Their shared sense of humour helped, but it was more than that. It was how they seemed to just understand each other. Kim couldn't put a finger on why but she couldn't think of a better way to spend her time.

"So, I've got a lot to live up to then?" Jay asked with a smile as he held the step ladder she was on. "Kev was an awesome partner to deserve this. How am I fairing up in his shadow?"

Kim reached up to secure the end of the banner to buy herself time. For a woman who wasn't crazy about heights, it seemed such a simple task to complete when Jay was right there, ready to catch her if she fell.

The idea of seeing Kevin and Jay in the same light as partners just didn't add up in Kim's mind.

"No, it's just…it's completely different…you know Kevin was the first person to accept that I was a cop without a second thought? Most of my academy class assumed I was some airheaded flight attendant, the rest just saw me as a woman, therefore, unable to be a cop." She rolled her eyes. "But Kev was my solid partner and friend from day one."

"That's hard to track down you know." Jay said as Kim climbed back down to solid ground.

"Yeah, I do. That's why I'm putting in so much effort."

"You're lucky, myself included, you've had a good run for a while." He grinned as he dropped his name onto her good partner list. "I've never really had that. My whole career with the police…it's been the same thing, one partner onto the next. It just never really stuck."

"You and Hailey seemed to be solid together."

"Yeah." He nodded, "And we're solid. I like to think we're pretty good too. Now, what's next boss?"

* * *

A few hours later, Kim didn't need to be able to read people to notice that she was annoying Herrmann with her over-enthusiasm. The firefighter, who was always up for some hijinks, levelled her with a barely concealed glare. "Kim. _We have got it all covered_."

"I know. I'm sorry Herrmann, it's just…Kevin always misses Vanessa and Jordan more this time of year and I figure that he deserves a great birthday."

"I know and he does, but it's all fine. Here. Sit down, have a drink. Let us do our job. You've already decorated the place. There's nothing left to do."

She couldn't drink yet she had to make sure that all the guests had arrived before he arranged for Adam to bring Kevin in and…

"Or better yet, get the hell out of here for an hour or two, get changed and be ready to actually enjoy the party." He tried another angle.

Jay appeared at her shoulder in time for Herrmann's suggestion, "It's fine, I brought my change of clothes with me, the bathrooms here are fine to change." She deflected.

"No way. Kim come on, I've to go back to mine to get changed, you can change there too. Get out of this place for a while." Jay said.

"Brilliant! Yes! Great suggestion. I knew I always liked you Halstead." Herrmann said, slapping Jay friendly on the shoulder. "Go on Burgess, relax for a bit, you've everything sorted, we'll hold down the fort. I promise."

She didn't really have an option. Kim collected her bags and followed Jay from the bar. Jay drove them to his place.

"Any word from Adam yet?" He asked as he unlocked the door and led them inside.

Adam was the person responsible for keeping Kevin away from Molly's until all the guests had arrived and then bringing hm around when Kim sent word.

"Yeah, they're still wrapping up a case, so it'll be a while yet." She replied.

"Great, you hungry?" Jay asked as she followed him through the space, as he turned the lights on and went to rummage in his refrigerator.

Kim hadn't really thought about food all day. But now that he mentioned it…

"I could eat." She admitted as her stomach growled from hunger.

"You'll have to marvel at my amazing cooking skills." Jay joked as he set about making something. "Will is the good cook in the family."

"My sister is the best cook in my family." Kim admitted, taking up her old spot at his kitchen island.

"Oh really?" He asked as he went about lining up pots and pans. "Hey, how did Zoe's party go last weekend?"

Kim loved that Jay would not only listen to her as they chatted during the day about their personal lives but then remembered it later and followed up. It had been Zoe's first party with girls _and_ boys and Nicole had been freaking out about her little girl growing up and Kim had heard the entire story, and had relayed it to Jay.

"It went well. Zoe had a great time and Nicole seemed to calm down afterwards." Kim smiled. "Want a hand?"

"That would be great." He admitted as he looked in confusion at the back of a food packet.

They settled to eat their impromptu dinner a little while later and Kim would regard it as a success. Nothing had been set on fire between the two of them. There _may_ nearly had been a fire but the secret was between them and not leaving the room. It did leave them in peals of laughter though, as they sat down to eat together.

"You know, we're a good team." Jay said as Kim caught her breath from laughter. The sincerity in his gaze, his smile, his words, were disarming. Kim's very soul knew that he didn't mean a good team just in work.

They were a good team. Period.

"Yeah, we are." She readily agreed.

Adam's message lit up Kim's phone, interrupting her first bite of dinner. She relayed the message to Jay, "They're just getting ready to leave the district now. Adam has made up some excuse to go and get changed and grab some food so he's buying us time."

"Cool, we have time then." Jay said. Kim found herself forgetting her stressful thoughts of the day and enjoying eating dinner with Jay.

When Adam's next update came, Kim decided it was time to get ready and get back to Molly's.

"Bathroom's the second on the left." Jay instructed her as she picked up her bag.

"Thanks." She said as she moved down the hallway. She got ready in record time.

She put away her makeup bag and opened the bathroom door to find a shirtless Jay walking down his hallway.

"Sorry, I'll be ready in five minutes I swear, I've put my good shirt somewhere safe and can't find it. Think I put it in the spare room." Jay said as he opened another door down the hall.

She had long stopped listening to what he was saying. 

It never mattered in work. In quick changes for undercover operations, she had seen many of her male colleagues shirtless. She had seen Jay shirtless in work before.

But this was different.

His jeans had been hanging low around his hips and the tension in his shoulders from work just wasn't there.

He looked…she had to quickly close the door back over and clamp her mouth shut from where her jaw had literally dropped.

This was ridiculous. Like she had told Nicole before, she knew objectively that Jay was handsome, a good-looking guy. That fact didn't change. But the fact that her heart hammered a bit faster at the sight and the fact that she knew he had a beautiful soul underneath might have skewed her view somewhat.

Kim went back over to the mirror and gave herself a stern look and told herself she was listening to Vanessa far too much when it came to Jay.

This was a momentary blip. He was her partner. That was it.

After Jay had finally found his shirt, they set off and arrived back at the bar before most of the guests. It was a testament to the person that Kevin was that so many people quickly started turning up.

The bar was crowded by the time Kim told Adam to initiate Stage Three: Bring in Kevin.

Excitement zinged through Kim's bloodstream as they turned down the lights to make the bar appear quiet from the outside as Adam messaged back to say they were on route.

Silence descended on the crowd only to be broken when the door opened.

"Surprise!" The crowd seemed to shout in unison as Kevin stood in shock.

Kim broke from the crowd first, rushing over to hug her best friend, "Happy Birthday!"

"I thought you had forgotten!" Kevin told her.

"No way. Not a chance." She grinned up at him as others started crowded around Kevin.

Kim let herself breathe a sigh of relief and relax as the party got into gear. She double checked the buffet, checked the staff were all okay and flitted around the crowd, making sure people are enjoying themselves and most importantly, that Kevin was having a good time.

"Lover boy's looking at you." Vanessa announced, appearing at Kim's side at the bar as she ordered a drink.

"Who?" Kim asked, glancing around the room.

"Halstead." Vanessa told her over the din of the party. Kim rolled her eyes, Vanessa was still on that theory, she should have known.

"And not the red-head one." Stella chipped in as she handed Kim her drink.

"Don't be stupid, Jay is not…" Kim argued as she glanced around again, this time trying to pin down where her partner was.

There he was. Smiling as he chatted to some of the firefighters and Maggie and April.

The thought hit Kim like a tonne of bricks.

Had Jay always been that beautiful?

The shirt he had hunted for brought out the colour of his eyes. But it wasn't his outfit, it wasn't even his body underneath, it was the depth in his eyes and the good heart he had.

He met her gaze as he glanced in her direction. Feeling about the same age as her niece, she diverted her gaze away as if she was still in middle school and been caught out staring at her crush.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kim argued with Vanessa and Stella.

This was _Jay_. She could be normal. In fact, she'd prove them wrong. She'd go talk to him right now. She ordered another beer for Jay and set off to find her partner.

It was that pull again. Like gravity. Once she moved, he moved too. Closing the space between them in the middle of the crowd.

"So, are you having a good time?" Jay asked her as they got within speaking distance. Kim's feet kept moving as if they had a will of their own until she was far too close. There was no more personal space, it was more like their own private bubble in the room.

"Yeah. It turned out pretty good." Kim agreed, handing Jay a new beer. He took the new bottle with one hand and had to stretch his other hand over her shoulder and lean in closer if that were possible to place his empty bottle on the bar. She didn't want him to move away but he did, if only fractionally.

Self-consciousness hit Kim like a bullet. The man has now probably seen her at her worst. Both in demeanour and physical appearance.

It had driven a lot of people away.

Or maybe she hadn't tried too hard to stop them leaving.

Either way, Jay wasn't making his way to the exit.

"I was talking to Kev and the man is ecstatic." Jay leaned in to tell her.

"I'm glad. Thanks for all your help Jay. Really."

"Anytime Kim." He gave her a soft smile, just for her, "I'm here anytime."

Was his cologne always so sweet to smell? Or maybe it was just the proximity.

"Kim, you said to have the cake around this time?" Herrmann's voice made Kim jump slightly, enough for Jay to place a calming hand on her arm. His touch was addictive. She wanted him to slip his hand around to her back and place it on the spot on her lower back that seemed to be his favourite, whenever he had to guide her through undercovers as a couple.

She needed to get a grip. Jay suddenly seemed more intoxicating than the beer in her hand.

"Cake. Right, cake time." She found her voice and replied to Herrmann.

The night went by in a flurry afterwards. Jay's very presence seemed to be calling her but Kim remained as far away as possible when she could. She need to get her head back on straight.

She put it down to the excitement of the past couple of days or to the slight buzz of alcohol in her bloodstream. There was no way she found Jay _attractive_. There was no way she was falling for him. No way.

The crowd started to dwindle the night went on and Kim noticed Trudy and Randall heading for the door. It was a perfect excuse to get some air and clear her head.

"Thanks for coming." Kim said as she caught up with the pair and breathed in the cool night air, trying to eradicate the memory of Jay's scent.

"Oh hey Kim, it was a great night." Mouch complimented her.

"Kevin's enjoying it." Trudy added.

"There's Cruz, I need to catch him before he leaves." Mouch excused himself to talk to the other firefighter who was further down the sidewalk waiting for a cab.

"Kim, can I talk to you for a minute?" Trudy asked and Kim looked up a bit too quickly at her Desk Sergeant because she knew that voice. That was Trudy's serious and personal tone.

"Eh…yeah, sure." She replied before Trudy walked them down the sidewalk slightly, away from anybody that would spill out from Molly's.

Trudy sighed as if unsure about what to say and if Kim knew one thing, it was that Trudy Platt was never unsure about anything. "Kim, you've been here before." Trudy looked her dead in the eye with what looked almost like disappointment in her eyes. Something that Kim never _ever_ wanted to see directed at her from Trudy Platt.

Trudy must have seen the confusion on Kim's face. The older woman place a comforting hand on her arm. "Look, sue me, it's probably none of my business, but I just…I wouldn't like to see you get hurt again Kim."

"How would I get hurt? By what?" Kim was beginning to think she was more drunk than she thought because Trudy was making no sense.

Trudy was getting impatient, Kim could see it from the narrowing of her eyes. "Burgess, you have a history of work romances, do you really think this is a good thing to pursue?"

"Have you been talking to Vanessa?" Kim hit back.

"Rojas? No. I _see_ things. Like how you two are all googly eyes and what? Do you just keep a spare set of clothes for him? I'm just saying Kim, you've been burnt by all this before. You just got to be sure this time."

"Sarge, honestly, there's nothing going on between me and Jay." Kim replied but she suddenly didn't feel so sure on her feet, like the world was shifting, because she wasn't entirely sure about if there was anything going on with her own feelings was she?

Trudy raised one eyebrow.

"There isn't." Kim shook her head vehemently. Kim looked around to make sure that nobody could hear them and looked back at the woman she considered a second mother and confidant. "…Because that would be bad, right?" She didn't know why on earth she felt the compulsion to ask for clarification.

"I just want you to be careful Kim. Getting mixed up with your partner doesn't usually end well, you know that."

The treacherous thought flashed across Kim's mind, that Jay wasn't Seán or Adam.

Jay was _Jay_.

"Just think about it." Trudy implored her as Mouch approached. All Kim could do was nod dumbly. The day had been so long.

Her and Jay?

Kim could have laughed at the thought that she was now getting her dating advice from Platt, she wished she could tell that to her past self.

But her and Jay?

Jay was her partner.

That was all.

But suddenly, Kim wasn't all that sure about that fact anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Things seem to be developing in this partnership...Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'd love to know your thoughts!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there. I'm an official Kim and Jay shipper now. There's no going back haha.  
> Anyway so during this episode I squealed when Voight put them together as partners, thinking it would lead to more screen time together and at least a better friendship. But season 7 went the way it went so I wrote my own version.  
> Hope you enjoyed this and hope that you're safe and well. x


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